Tears on the Runway
by Princess-Xion
Summary: AU. With every bruise, Kairi hopes she can fix him, but some people are too monstrous to be fixed. Can she be saved before he goes too far? SxKxV; Abuse, Sexual Content, Foul Language, Drugs, etc. ***CHAPTER 9 UPDATED***
1. The First Time

**Title: Tears on the Runway**

**Summary: Best friends aren't supposed to hurt you. Best friends are supposed to be there for you, care about you, and love you. What do you do when your best friend starts to twist the meaning of friendship into something much darker and more twisted? With every bruise, Kairi hopes she can fix him. But some people are too monstrous to be fixed. Can she be saved before he goes too far? SxK ; VxK**

**Warnings: Abuse, foul language, sexual content. Rated T for now, but rating may go up in later chapters.**

**Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me, and belong entirely to Square-Enix and Tetsuya Nomura. The only thing that belongs to me is the events of the plot, and how I have arranged them.**

**Song Used in this Chapter: '**_**Bela Lugosi's Dead**_**' by CHVRCHES.**

**xxx**

_White on white, translucent black capes_

_Back on the rack_

**The first time** my best friend hit me, I didn't know how to react. I had read stories of this sort of thing, but so many different things didn't add up that I couldn't quite comprehend it. First of all, I was a straight A student, top of my class, popular . . . _Not _reckless by any means, and certainly not reckless enough to get myself involved with someone who would purposefully hit me. Secondly, the girls who usually were abused by boys were the girls who just so happened to be _dating_ the boy who hit them. My best friend and I weren't dating. We were just _best friends_. For our entire lives!

So you could imagine when I found myself on the hardwood floor of my living room, parents out for the night, holding my stinging cheek, that I was feeling a bit bewildered if not shocked. I didn't know what to do with myself. Last I remembered, I was teasing my friend as usual, about whatever nonsense I always teased him about. What possibly could have caused him to snap . . . ?

"K-Kairi, I . . . Oh, shit, I'm . . . I'm _sorry_." He was kneeling in font of me now, his sunset-colored eyes were wide and full of remorse. He gently removed my hand from my face, took my chin in his gentle grip, and inspected my cheek for bruising. His handsome face was contorted in an expression of concern.

"Wh-What . . . What did I do . . . ?" was all I could manage to choke out, my cerulean eyes staring directly into his.

"It . . . It was me, I just . . . I don't know what came over me," he replied, pulling me into one of his warm embraces. His spiky-haired head of raven hair pressed against the side of my face, the strands tickling my skin slightly.

I tried to go over what had happened in my mind, what I had said to make him so angry, but nothing made sense anymore. It could have been anything—from me teasing him about how low he always wore his skinny jeans, to how funny his stretched ears looked when they flapped with each movement of his head, any of it could have been the reason for him snapping. Any of it could have been the reason why he whirled around and backhanded me.

What was I supposed to do in this situation? Push him away and run to the phone to call the police? How could I do that when he was the only friend I had that I completely and utterly trusted? Something had to be bothering him, something else. There was just no way that he would consciously and willingly hurt me.

So I hugged him back and told him it was okay. "I forgive you, Vanitas. I'm sorry for whatever it was I said, if it was teasing you, or . . . Or . . . I'm just sorry."

"It's okay," Vanitas said, pulling back and smiling down at him. His smile was dazzlingly bright. "And for the record, it was completely an accident. It won't ever happen again, I promise."

I smiled back at him, not because I was trying to hide the fact that I was still upset, but because I truly believed him. I truly, utterly believed that Vanitas was telling me the truth—that he would never hit me again.

Oh, how _truly, utterly __**wrong**_I was.

_The bats have left the bell tower_

_The victims have been bled _

_Red velvet lines the black box_

"Kairi, come get your dinner!"

I looked up from my Anatomy homework, feeling slightly panicked. I didn't want to go eat dinner. I had two more classes' worth of homework to finish before the night was up, and a midterm to study for, not to mention I didn't want to have to find a way to explain to my parents how in the heck I'd managed to get a B in AP History. Oh, and let's not forget the faint bruise that had purpled on my shoulder.

Vanitas hadn't stopped after first time, nor after the second. The third time was right out, and the fourth time had me wondering if maybe I was doing something in particular to make him so short-tempered with me. It seemed like every time we hung out, I pissed him off about something or another, and he grabbed me, or slapped me, or even pushed me.

Part of me knew that what he was doing was wrong to some extent, but how wrong was it if it was my fault that he was hurting me? He kept apologizing, telling me that sometimes I just made him so angry because he cared about me and didn't want me screwing up, but whenever I asked him what I was screwing up on, he just got angry all over again. I tried asking him if something was going on at home, but according to him, everything was perfect. Parents were happy, things were great between him and his brother, he was doing great in school . . . So that left me to understand that it really _was _my fault, because he had never acted this way before.

"Kairi!" my mother called up the stairs a second time, switching to our native Korean tongue like she did whenever she was peeved. "Dinner is _ready_!"

"Coming, _oma_!" I responded, slamming my pencil down and trying not to completely break down. My mother didn't care how much homework I had or when it had be completed by; all she cared about was the end result being A's all across the board. I was stressed out more often than I was happy, and the only time I was ever happy was when I was laughing and hanging out with my best friend. Perhaps that was why I was overlooking his temper so much . . . Because when I was with him, it was the only time I was happy.

On my way out of my bedroom, I scraped all of my elbow-length crimson hair up into a messy bun at the mirror (my parents had been outraged when I'd first dyed the natural black strands red, but had since gotten over it). My face was still perfectly covered in the right amount of make-up, and none of the bruises were showing. Wonderful. I supposed eventually I would have to find the right time to ask Vanitas about his _issues_ with anger, but until I fixed whatever it was about me that was bothering him so much, I would have to endure and focus on my studies.

"_Mianhaeyo_," I said as I entered the dining room. My older brothers were already waiting at the table, and I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw them.

They _both _had dyed their long, spiky hair as red as mine. _Both _of them.

"Reno! Axel!" I hissed, scrambling closer and smacking them both on the backs of the head. "Have they seen you yet? They'll kill you!"

Axel smirked, and I couldn't help but look at the small black diamonds that were tattooed underneath his emerald-green eyes. Our parents had _not _been happy about that (Axel was lucky they still let him live in their house), let's just say . . . He reached up to flick me on the nose.

"_Ne_," he chuckled. "They're pissed off, what do you expect?"

Reno reached around behind Kairi to slap high fives with Axel. "Stop worrying so much, Kairi. We did it to take the heat off you for once."

"_Oppa_," I complained, turning to Reno to glare at him. "Getting yourself kicked out isn't going to take the heat off of me at all—it's only going to make it worse!"

Reno rolled his eyes and peered up at me. He looked about to say something, but then changed his mind. Reno was like that—not a fiery as Axel, but still cheeky and definitely not the type to think things through all that thoroughly.

"Been practicing really hard at the gym, have you?" Axel suddenly said.

"Huh?" I frowned, confused.

"At cheer practice." He gestured to my bare collarbone, where a bruise was peeking out from the edge of my wide-collared raglan tee. Blushing furiously, I hurried to pull it up a bit further, visions of a few days ago when Vanitas had grabbed my shoulder and violently turned me around so he could yell at me to leave him alone. I still didn't know what I had said that day, as like with every other time I upset him, but I guess I just hadn't hidden the bruise well enough.

"Yeah," I lied smoothly to my brother. "Coach has been working us girls really hard—we have a competition next weekend."

"_Aissh_, another one?" Reno complained, prompting me to twist his ear playfully.

"You have one every weekenddddd~" Axel whined, earning himself an ear twist as well.

"Boys, your sister's competitions are very important to this family." Our father came strolling into the dining room, pushing his glasses up his nose. He had an overall stern demeanor, and all three of us teenagers' backs straightened almost immediately.

"Yes, sir," Reno and Axel said simultaneously.

I scrambled to sit down at the table as our mother started bringing in dishes of food for a traditional Korean dinner. I kept my gaze lowered, knowing that just by the way my father was completely refusing to look at me that my mother had showed him my progress report for school. I fought tears back, knowing I was about to get a lecture.

I felt a kick underneath the table and glanced up briefly to see Reno shooting me an encouraging wink. My heart warmed a bit. If there was one thing I could count on even more than Vanitas' friendship, it was the support of my brothers.

After all the food had been set out and plates were placed, my mother took her seat, and the awkwardness settled in.

Reno and Axel were the first at the chopping block.

"Axel, Reno . . ." my father said between bites. "When did you two decide to go out and embarrass this family more than your sister already has?"

My brothers exchanged jaded glances and then Axel was the first to speak.

"_Appa_," he drawled with a roll of his eyes. "It's _just _hair."

"And I'm _just _the first Korean to run for Senator in this state," our father responded coldly, setting his chopsticks down to glower at his sons. "I have press conferences to attend, commercials to film . . . I can't afford to have anyone seeing me make mistakes."

Reno scowled. "Mistakes? Having your sons dye their hair is _not_ going to lose you votes. That's just stupid."

"And so is looking like a wild child who does drugs and . . . And . . . I don't know, _hooligan _things!" Our mother slammed her fist lightly on the table, eyes blazing.

"We are not hooligans, _oma_," Reno spluttered, obviously trying not to burst out laughing.

Axel covered his mouth, eyes shining with tears of mirth. I wished I could be as carefree as them, doing whatever I wanted without caring about what my parents said. But the difference between them and I was that they both had no desire to go to college and _I _did. I just wanted to go to college and make my parents proud—to put it simply, I loved my parents. So whereas Axel and Reno loved our parents but didn't want to follow the rules, I _wanted _to follow the rules and see my parents smile at me.

And that was why it was going to be so hard to deal with my parents' disappointment at my low grade.

"One more slip up, and you two are out of this house," our father warned, pointing his chopsticks at each of them in turn. "Axel, you're nineteen and Reno, you're eighteen. You're old enough to live on your own, to make your own decisions . . . But if you're going to live in _my _house, then you're going to follow _my _rules. Dye your hair back before the week is out, or _you're _out."

"Tch," Axel and Reno scoffed at the same time, digging into their meal. I knew they didn't care what our father said—they already _had_ plans to move out. They both had jobs, and were planning on moving out with Vanitas' older brother Sora. Sora was eighteen and about to graduate, so the three of them living in an apartment would be ideal.

The thought of Sora made my stomach flip over. Wasn't that the cliché? Having a crush on your best friend's older brother? Except usually, your best friend was a girl, and you were twelve or thirteen. And in all the stories, the boy was always the popular one that was way out of the girl's league. Vanitas was most certainly a _boy, _and I was seventeen. Sora was in the same grade as me, but nowhere near as popular as me—he was quite a recluse, actually. Everything was all backwards in my story and yet still, Sora had never shown any friendly interest in me, let alone _romantic_ interest. Not to mention, he was moving in with my brothers!

All thoughts of my silly schoolgirl crush flew out the window when my father addressed me.

"Kairi, explain the B grade. _Now_," he growled, jamming food into his mouth.

I lowered my gaze, pushing food around on my plate with my chopsticks. Everyone was looking at me, waiting.

"I . . . I missed a couple questions on a movie quiz," I mumbled. "That's all."

"_'That's all'_?" my father spluttered, finally looking at me with so much disappointment in his eyes that I felt as though it were tangible. "You think that if I screw up an answer to a question during a TV interview during my campaign, that people are just going to say _that's all_?"

"I'm sorry," I whispered, my appetite completely erased. "I'll ask the teacher if I can redo it."

"You bet you will," my mother said. "Kairi, we are so disappointed in you. You can do better than a B."

"Until you bring home signed proof that the grade has been raised, you will be allowed to go to cheer practice outside of school, and that's it. No hanging out with friends, no having Vanitas come over, nothing. I want an A grade from _everything _in _every _class. Colleges aren't looking for half-assed GPAs."

"Y-Yes, sir . . ." My voice was a strangled whisper.

Reno reached for my hand under the table and squeezed it. There was once a time where he would have spoken up in my defense, and Axel as well, but there was no changing my father's ways. He was old school, and he was just as hard on us as his parents had been on him.

I kept my head down for the rest of dinner, finishing my food only because my parents instructed me to do so.

_The virginal brides file past his tomb_

_Strewn with time's dead flowers_

_Bereft in deathly bloom_

_Alone in a darkened room_

_The Count_

I started sobbing as soon as the door to my bedroom closed. I turned the lock and fell against the wooden door, collapsing into a heap upon the carpeted floor. I could still see the way my father had looked at me. I was so angry with myself for messing up on those quiz questions. If only I had gotten an A, then the dinner conversation would have gone very differently for me.

Sometimes, I felt as though I deserved to be hit. Whenever Vanitas blew up on me, even though it was only one slap here, or one grab there, I still felt as though it was what I deserved. I couldn't seem to do anything right, so maybe . . . In some weird way, Vanitas was helping me? As sick and twisted as it sounded . . .

My cell phone began to ring, but I was crying too hard to pull myself up and go answer it. I knew I had homework to finish, and I knew that it was probably Vanitas that was calling me, but I just didn't have the inner strength. I knew I needed to do better. I needed to do better in school, with my parents, with Vanitas . . . With everyone. I needed to do better for myself.

Eventually, when I couldn't take the constant vibrating, I dragged myself over to my bedside table and looked at my phone.

**12 New Messages.**

My heart skipped a beat and I wiped my eyes free of all remaining tears. Twelve messages? They couldn't all be from Vanitas . . . Could they? I turned and plopped myself down on the edge of my bed, sliding my finger across the touchscreen and scrolling through the texts. Relieved bloomed in my chest. Only three of the texts were from Vanitas, the others were from my friends: Olette wanted to tell me about a boy she'd met at work, Namine had sent me pictures of her newest painting, and Tidus had asked me if I'd talked to Yuna yet about whether or not she might possibly have feelings for him. It all seemed trivial, though, compared to the fact that Vanitas had messaged me.

I just wanted to figure out what I was doing to make him so _angry_.

All of Vanitas's text messages were similar . . .

**Hey, where r u?**

** Why aren't u answering my calls?**

** Yooo, u there?**

I tapped out a reply as quickly as possible, because I didn't want him to freak out. He had a tendency to think that if I didn't answer my phone, that meant I was hurt or dead. Once, he had even shown up at my house, pounding at the door and insisting that I was hurt. It had caused my parents to panic, and my brothers to get irritated at him for acting so weirdly. When he had found out that I was indeed okay, and that I had just been busy working on an essay, he had hugged me so tightly that I had no doubt in my mind he had actually thought I was in trouble. It was a little flattering, so I had guiltily relished in his embrace.

**I'm ok**, I texted. **Just getting a lecture from my parents.**

His reply came almost instantly, as it usually did—like he was always waiting by his cell phone for me.

**That sux**, he replied. **Try to txt me before u go down to dinner tho, so I kno ur ok.**

** Ok. Sorry! **I frowned. Sometimes, Vanitas had a tendency to be a little overbearing. I didn't really see why he would need me to check in with him like that, but I supposed that he just cared about me and worried, was all.

**Don't forget next time. U always forget, and it's annoying.**

My heart fluttered. Was he really angry about it? I set my phone down. I had homework I needed to finish, and it was already after seven. I didn't want Vanitas to feel like I was ignoring him, but . . . After the lecture I had just gotten, I really needed to do better than a B in school.

My phone vibrated again, and I couldn't resist the urge to look at it.

**Well? Call me.**

I sighed. He wasn't going to let it alone. I selected his number from the contacts and held the phone up to my ear. I was feeling a bit weird—something inside of my gut that twisted only when Vanitas was angry with me. I wasn't sure if it was fear or concern over the reason for his anger, but I didn't want to delve too deeply into it, lest I ruin our friendship.

"Hey," Vanitas answered on the first ring. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I said softly. "I'm sorry I forgot to message you before dinner. I was doing homework."

"You know better, though," Vanitas complained. "I always tell you to text me before you're going to be away from your phone, just in case I can't get a hold of you."

I bit my lower lip. I could hear it in his voice—the irritation that marked the start of his spiral. I needed to tread carefully, or he was going to get angry with me.

"I truly am sorry, Ani," I whispered. "It won't happen again."

"It better not," he warned, his voice lowering. "Remember, I'm not too old to climb into your window. If I think you're hurt, I'm going to come up there and check on you."

"Ani, no!" I protested. "What if my parents found out?"

"I wouldn't do it if I didn't care about you, Kai. You're my best friend." He sighed. "Just . . . Don't fuck up next time, got it? You know what happens to me when people screw up . . ."

I closed my eyes and remained silent. Of course I knew what happened. I got a bruise and an apology, both from him. I answered him quietly, and then he let me hang up the phone. Slowly, I set it down on the mattress and stared at it without making a move to answer my other texts.

Sometimes, I felt as thought my world was slowly being swallowed up by Vanitas and his short, explosive temper.

_Undead, undead, undead . . ._

**xxx**

**Author's Note: Please leave a review, favorite, follow, whatever you'd like. I will respond to all of my reviews in the next chapter. I started this story because I was working on another, and needed a break from it. I hope my other readers won't be angry but I just really, it was like pulling teeth. I want to work on this one for a bit to get the creative juices flowing so that I can finish Finding Hikari. T.T I just needed a break. Anyway, I hope you all will like this story!**


	2. Fat

**Title: Tears on the Runway**

**Summary: Best friends aren't supposed to hurt you. Best friends are supposed to be there for you, care about you, and love you. What do you do when your best friend starts to twist the meaning of friendship into something much darker and more twisted? With every bruise, Kairi hopes she can fix him. But some people are too monstrous to be fixed. Can she be saved before he goes too far? SxK ; VxK**

**Warnings: Abuse, foul language, sexual content. Rated T for now, but rating may go up in later chapters.**

**Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me, and belong entirely to Square-Enix and Tetsuya Nomura. The only thing that belongs to me is the events of the plot, and how I have arranged them.**

**Song Used in this Chapter: '**_**The Langdon House**_**' by Issues.**

**xxx**

_What did I do to deserve this?_

_I forget that it's all part of my imagination_

_I could actually pick and choose my loose ends_

**I had it all.** I had friends, I had my extracurricular activities, I had family. My parents were strict, but they loved me with everything they had in them. My brothers teased me, but I knew they would lay their lives down for me. My girlfriends were always there for me to have a good time or some girl talk, and I had no doubt in my mind that they all cared for me as I cared for them. Cheerleading was everything to me, and I was the best flyer on the team—I loved being with my teammates and they loved being with me.

So why was I feeling so worthless?

Looking at myself in the mirror, I couldn't help but stare at the little imperfections I had that I hadn't really noticed before. At least, that I hadn't noticed before Vanitas had pointed them out . . .

It was late on a Friday night, and I had just gotten back from a movie with Vanitas. My parents had only allowed me to go because I had raised my AP History grade, thankfully, and Vanitas had picked me up around seven. I had chosen to wear something pretty, for no particular reason, and the first thing Vanitas had done was laugh and tell me I looked frumpy. When I'd asked him what he meant by that, he'd bluntly said "fat."

_Fat._

Now, I was a Korean girl, relatively short at around five-foot-four, and was by no means _fat_. I was in competitive cheerleading and my weight fluctuated from 97 pounds to 110 pounds, depending on the time of the month. I had no internal struggles with my body image, and had never given any thought to my weight due to the fact that I had _always_ been this thin. But to hear from Vanitas all-of-a-sudden that I looked _fat_ . . . ? For some reason, the word wouldn't leave my mind.

I turned in the mirror, frowning at my reflection moving left and right. I turned and looked over my shoulder at my rear, lifted the hem of my dress to look at my stomach and squeeze the skin. I wrapped my fingers around my thighs, still confused. How could he think I looked fat? Was he joking around? Teasing? Or was he being honest?

There was a knock at my door, and feeling a bit embarrassed, I hurriedly let my dress fall back down. I rushed to open the door and smiled up at my brother, Axel.

"Took ya long enough to get home," Axel said, hands on his hips. "How was the movie?"

"Pretty good," I answered, stepping aside so he could enter my virtually spotless room. "We saw that new movie _Pompeii_. It was really good!"

Axel flopped onto my bed, folding his arms behind his head. He was wearing black silk pajama pants and a white V-neck, and his long red hair was pulled up into a bun. I couldn't help but giggle—normally, he looked so tough and wore chains and studs and leather. Yet here he was, relaxing on my bed amongst my lavender sheets and fluffy stuffed animals. He looked silly.

"Did Vanitas pay for you?"

I nodded and turned back to the mirror, leaning close to check if I was getting under-eye circles. "He always pays."

"Hm . . . Sounds kinda like a date to me," he teased.

I whirled on him, giving him a playful glare. "_Oppa_! It was _not_ a date."

Axel wrinkled his nose and grinned. "It was _totally _a date."

I rolled my eyes. "_Aigoo, _why do you always do that?"

"Do what?" He took one of my stuffed teddy bears and threw it at me. It missed and bounced off the edge of my dresser, tumbling to the floor.

"Make everything with Ani seem like he likes me. He doesn't like me like that. We're just best friends." I combed my fingers through my elbow-length crimson tresses. My ebony roots were showing—I was going to need a trip to the salon soon.

Axel sat up and swung his legs onto the floor. He raised one eyebrow. "But do _you _like him like that?"

My heart skipped a beat and I froze, fingers still threaded through my hair, and glanced at my brother in the mirror. Vanitas and I had been best friends for our entire lives. There was no denying he'd seen me at my worst, and it was clear that I was seeing him at his worst now (which probably had something to do with why I was sticking by him even though he was hurting me). The raven-haired boy was eighteen, over six-foot tall, with beautiful features. He along with his brother Sora were also Korean, which was part of the reason why our families were friends, so Vanitas had an exotic look to him that attracted everyone, men and women alike. Girls usually fawned over him in the halls at school, and there had been more than a few occasions where other girls had expressed their envy over my friendship with him.

But the question was . . . Did I _like _him?

A mental image of Sora appeared in my head, with his own exotic, beautiful facial features. His cobalt blue eyes, spiky chestnut-colored hair, and stoic demeanor . . . Sora was mysterious and gorgeous and unattainable. He dressed to kill, and his smile was even more deadly. I think if I were to think about all of the times he'd ever spoken a word to me, I could count the instances on two hands. Whenever he was near me, my heart rate sped up and I couldn't look him in the eyes. And Axel was asking me if I liked _Vanitas_?

Vanitas was not Sora, but Vanitas still meant a lot to me.

"I don't like Vanitas like that," I said decidedly. "I care about him, that's all."

Axel sighed in amusement. "You do realize that he asked me to ask you if you liked him, right?"

For some reason, I felt a bit alarmed. I looked down, searching the thin air as if a solution was in front of me. Hearing that I didn't like him back might not be a good answer for Axel to deliver to him, and then what if Vanitas lost his temper again? I was still trying to figure out what I was doing to upset him so much, and that was going to set me back. I needed to tell him what he wanted to hear.

"He did?" I tittered nervously. "I guess I was just trying to hide the truth. But I guess . . . I guess it's best for him to know."

"To know what?" Axel stood up, heading toward the door with a yawn.

"That I do like him like that," I lied easily with a bright smile.

Axel's eyebrows shot up. "_Mweo_? But I thought you just said that—"

I cut him off. "I was lying, _oppa_. Duh! But now that I know he likes me back, you can tell him I do. You . . . You _are _gonna tell him, right?"

Axel shot me a weird look before ruffling my hair. "If that's what you want."

"Th-Thanks!" I stammered, pushing him gently out into the hall. "Tell Reno I said good night."

"_Ne_," he said before disappearing.

I closed the door rapidly and threw the latch, leaning against the door and hiding my face with my hands. I hoped desperately that I wasn't making a mistake. Vanitas was my best friend and he was hitting me—those were the facts. The lies, however, might end up getting me in even more trouble than I was already in. If Vanitas asked me to be his girlfriend, I'd be too scared to say no. Not to mention, if there was something going on with him that was making him react so angrily toward me, then I wanted to do whatever I could to help him.

If dating him was what was going to help him get better, then . . . Then as his best friend, wasn't it my duty to do whatever it took?

I sure hoped so.

_Run and hide_

_All I need is a friend_

_My whole life has been a war_

_So I battle myself until I run and hide_

"Don't you dare drop her, Namine! Hit it, girls. 1, 2, 3! Follow the count!"

As I flew up into the air, propelled by four of my teammates, I listened to the beat of the music and performed a perfect toe touch. Ensuring that I was firm and fluid, I made sure to throw the invisible audience a wink and great, big smile, and then landed perfectly in the waiting arms of my spotters below. We all spread apart into our formations, some of us cartwheeling to the left and right, some of us performing backhand springs, and the rest of us performing front hand springs. A few dances moves later, and our final run-through of the routine for that day's practice was complete.

Our coach, a busty raven-haired lady who took no nonsense from anyone, clapped her hands enthusiastically. She gave a few of the girls high fives on their way off the mats before making her way over to me and two of my friends.

"Coach Lockheart," one of my friends, a blonde girl name Namine spoke up. "How was my form during the basket toss?"

"Excellent, Namine," Coach Lockheart said, patting her fondly on the back. "The routine's looking great, and I think things are looking up for the competition next weekend. Great job."

I giggled happily and hugged Namine, then turned to my other friend, a girl with choppily-cut brown hair named Olette. I gave her a hug, too, and then the three of us turned back to face our coach.

"Olette, great job on your backtucks," the coach said. "But make sure you're not bending your arms the way you have been, all right?"

"Yes, coach." Olette skipped off across the mats, waving goodbye to us and to the other teammates that were still mingling in the gym whilst waiting for their rides home.

"Anyway, Kairi . . ." The coach gave me a smile. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Uhhh, sure," I said. "See you later, Namine!"

"I'll see you at school, Kairi!" Namine chimed with a wave. "Later, Coach Lockheart!"

Coach Lockheart led me off to one corner of the gym before turning to face me. I waited for her to speak, noticing that she was eyeing my body with distaste. I couldn't help but think back to the day before, when Vanitas had called me fat and frumpy. Was the coach thinking that, too? Was I not getting as high in my jumps during practice because of it?

"You're lookin' pretty bruised there, girly," the coach said sincerely, arms folded over her chest. "You've been eating, right?"

"Me?" I blushed bright red. "Yeah, of course! But I mean, if this is about my weight, I can bring it down five pounds or so. I had a feeling I wasn't getting as high during stunts, coach."

The coach looked bewildered and concerned, all at the same time. She shook her head wildly. "No, no, no! That is the exact _opposite_ of what I was saying. Keep your weight exactly where it is. What I'm trying to point out is the bruises you have on your arms and your hip. And then there's some on your face and shoulders. I just wanted to make sure you were eating because sometimes, bruising happens when you become anemic, and that can happen as a result of not eating."

I blinked rapidly and said the first thing that came to mind. "I just fell down the rock stairs at the beach, coach. I got pretty banged up—you can even ask my parents. I promise you, I _am _eating, though."

She didn't look convinced. "Hm . . . Well, okay. Just . . . Make sure you're eating. Because if you aren't, I'll have to bench you for the season, until a doctor says you're okay to come back."

"But coach!" I cried.

"No buts about it," Coach Lockheart said. "I need my cheerleaders well enough to perform, and if you aren't eating, then you aren't well."

". . . Yes, coach," I pouted.

"Good." She gave me a side-hug. "Go ahead and head home. We'll see you on Tuesday night's practice."

I walked away slowly, deeply lost in thought, coming up for air only to return smiles and waves from my teammates. So Coach Lockheart thought I wasn't eating. I didn't know if that was a better cover-up for my bruises, or if it would just be better to tell someone what Vanitas was doing to me. I just couldn't bring myself to do it, though, knowing how much trouble Vanitas would get into. I wanted him to get better, not be punished. And in any case, he always apologized. That meant that he wasn't doing it on purpose.

Right?

When I got to the locker room of the gym, Namine and Olette were still getting changed into their regular clothes. Their faces lit up when they saw me, and they waved me over to the bench and lockers they were near.

"What did coach want to talk to you about?" Olette asked curiously, pulling a Hollister hoodie on over her head.

"Probably the bruises," Namine remarked worriedly, grabbing my hand and squeezing it. "You've got a lot of them—you really should get them looked at."

"Wh-What?" I stuttered, tucking a strand of my long bangs behind my ear. As I had been doing a lot lately, I spoke the first words that materialized upon my tongue. "I'm just anemic—I haven't really had an appetite lately."

"Really?" Olette asked, sounding suspicious.

Namine shrugged. "Hey, I'm anemic, too, so I guess it makes sense. But I take iron pills, so that's why I don't bruise. You just need some iron."

"Where do I buy them?" I asked, trying to sound genuinely interested. I wasn't anemic, of course, but I couldn't very well up and say that Vanitas was the causer of the bruises, now could I?

"Everywhere," Namine informed me, closing her locker and slinging her gym bag over her shoulder. "They're just like, in the vitamin aisle, I don't know. Anyway, Riku's waiting for me—we have a date tonight."

Olette and I giggled and waved goodbye to her, and then Olette turned to me.

"Wanna have a sleepover tonight?" she asked "My mom just bought me that _City of Bones _movie of Blu-ray."

"I can't," I said sadly. "I have homework."

"Aww," Olette pouted. "You always have homework, though."

"I know, I'm sorry. But it's almost March—Finals for this quarter are right before Spring Break, so I need to make sure I stay on top of my grades and studying, you know."

"I _knowww_," Olette sighed before giving me a hug. "Anyways, your parents might throw a hissy fit. I know how they get about you putting friends before school. I guess I'll see you on Monday in English."

"All right, bye!" I waved goodbye and then turned to go to where my own locker was located. I opened it and hurriedly checked my phone. Just as I expected, there were missed calls and text messages. Some were from my mother asking me what time practice was letting out and telling me to wait for Reno to come pick me up, one was from my friend from Anatomy class Yuna asking me if I could help her with something on the homework, and the others were all from exactly who I knew they would be from.

Vanitas.

**Why haven't u called me today?**

Rather than tap our a reply that might only anger him, I shot a few furtive glances around me to make sure none of my teammates in the locker room were paying attention to me, and then I dialed Vanitas's number.

"Yooo, what the fuck?" Vanitas growled into the receiver. "Haven't heard from you all day, Kai,"

"I know, I'm really sorry," I said honestly. "My mom woke me up early to grocery shop, and then I had to help her with taking down Valentine's decorations at her classroom at the elementary school, and then I had to rush to cheer practice."

"And you didn't think that at any point in time during your fun adventures that I might be _fucking _waiting for you to _call_? Not even a _fucking _text?" he roared suddenly, causing me to jump with surprise and fear. I lowered the volume on my phone, though luckily nobody in the room heard his voice from the speaker.

"I'm really sorry, Ani," I said quietly. "I was just busy."

"Too busy for me?" He scowled. "You're always too busy for me. Ever since we started high school."

I looked down. Was that was this was about? Was he always angry with me because he felt like I was focusing too much and school and forgetting about him? Maybe if I reassured him that he was still important to me, then he wouldn't feel the need to grab me or hit me when he was mad . . . ?

"I'll do better, Ani," I said. "I'll make more time for you. More hang outs, like old times, okay?"

". . . Whatever." The line went dead.

I felt tears come to my eyes. He was mad at me. Vanitas was mad at me again, and it was Saturday. If he was left angry all weekend, then Monday when he saw me at school, I might be counting on another bruise. In a flurry of my things, I high-tailed it out of the gym and out to the parking lot.

_One after one they'll all spin around_

_And one after one they'll all fall down from love_

_No body ever gave them enough_

I realized something was wrong on Sunday when I woke up with no appetite. I at first assumed it had something to do with the fact that I had stayed up until one AM studying, but when lunchtime rolled around and I stayed up in my room habitually getting up to look at myself in the mirror, I knew something Vanitas had said had gotten under my skin.

I grabbed onto the flesh of my hips. Was this was he had been talking about? Did my hips look too big? Or maybe it was my upper arms. I turned to the side and looked at them. They _were _a bit flabby. I wasn't working hard enough during cheer practice, was I?

By the time dinner was called for, I was feeling so sick to my stomach about the way that I looked that I feigned being asleep and remained locked in my bedroom. Reno came to check on me, but I had told him to go away, and that I would see him in the morning when he drove me to school. Instead, what I was really doing was laying in bed, crying silently in a panic about needing Vanitas to be happy, and trying to mentally think up a weight loss plan that would allow me to drop a few pounds quickly. I didn't want it to interfere with cheer or my health, but I also wanted it to be noticeable enough for Vanitas to take back his 'fat' comment.

I sat up in bed and grabbed my cell phone. Vanitas had only texted me once that day, to send me a stream of nasty words about how I was a liar and a fake friend, and had been ignoring all of my desperate replies ever since. I was beside myself. I wasn't a liar, and I wasn't a fake friend. He was my best friend, I just literally had forgotten to let him know I'd be busy Saturday morning. I couldn't understand why he was _so _angry.

I tried texting him again.

**I don't understand why ur doing this to me.**

Finally, he replied.

**Wut? Treating u like u treated me? Stupid cunt.**

His nasty, hurtful words were like a dagger to the heart, jarring me deep into my soul. I sunk to the floor and dissolved into tears. Vanitas hated me and I was fat and now, I was a stupid cunt. I didn't know what to do with myself. I just wanted to fix what was wrong with me so that my presence would stop being so triggering to Vanitas's anger.

**I'm rly sorry, Ani,** I texted to him, my vision blurred by my tears. **Pls don't be mad at me.**

** A little late for that, Kairi.**

** I'll make it up to u, I swear.**

** With wut? Ur stupid little cards? Fuck u.**

I squeezed my eyes shut. He was referring to the apology cards I had always made him for everything, even when we were little. I had thought he liked them, but . . . I guess they, along with everything else about me, were worthless. I held my phone close to my heart and leaned against the side of my bed, crying and feeling pain in my empty stomach. I just wanted everything to go back to _normal_—back to the way it was before Vanitas had turned into this wicked person.

My phone began ringing, and I answered it between sobs.

"V-Vanitas," I wailed.

"I'm so sorry, Kairi," he said, sounding rushed. "I don't know why I said that stuff to you, and I didn't mean any of it. You . . . You have to believe me. Shit, I . . . I'm just going through a hard time lately."

"You . . . You are?" I struggled to regain my composure, wiping my eyes quickly.

"Yeah, my . . . My mom's not doing too well, you know. She's been getting headaches, so we're all really worried. I guess I just keep taking it out on you. But you've _got_ to stop making me so _angry_."

"I'll stop," I whispered. "I promise."

"Good. Because Jesus Christ, woman, you're the only one who can get me so riled the fuck up." He sighed. "Anyway, I'll see you on Monday?"

"Yes, Ani."

"Later, Kai."

And just like, back to square one. I stood up slowly and set my phone back down on the bedside table. I was going to have to do better. I was going to have to look at what I already knew about the situation, and make decisions that way. Vanitas had mentioned I was fat, so that meant I needed to lose weight. I could do that. He had also mentioned that I looked plain a few times. That could be fixed with more make-up and nicer clothes—perhaps clothes that didn't look like they belonged on a Victorian-era peasant. Vanitas wanted me to call him and text him more often? I was going to do whatever the Hell it took to make my best friend happy, even if it meant more pain for me.

I spent the rest of the night making a meal plan for the week that consisted of 500 calories days, the only thought on my mind being the thought of my best friend.

_One after one and they'll all come around_

_And one after one they'll all fall down from love_

_Somebody's gonna give you it all_

_Somebody better give you enough_

**xxx**

**Author's Note: Thanks for all of your reviews, everybody! I was so worried people were going to be angry with me for putting Finding Hikari on hiatus, but this story idea just NEEDED to be written for months now. Anyway, here are my review replies:**

**MiyakoSue32:** How's THAT for a deep trap? Hahaha, thanks for your review! Yes, let us hope that Sora will save her, because the way things are going, looks like Kairi is definitely gonna be in need of saving!

**DecisivePumpkinHead****:** HAY GURL HAY! Really? Jeez, dag gummit that sucks butt! My parents were never very down my throat about grades. I just took care of my own studies and barely managed to graduate haha, but at least I did! And yeah, a lot of Kairi's stress stems from her studies being so important, but at the same time, a lot of her issues with Vanitas always being pissed off have to do with the fact that he can't handle coming in second to school. AND YEAH HE'S A TOTAL BUTT PLATE. Lol, don't worry—he will get worse hahaha.

**Rivendell101****:** Yes, just yes, I love you. Hahahaha. Thank you so much for saying that! I love hearing from fans hehe. And hope you liked this chapter! And I hope you like the way it turns out just as much as you have liked my other prose~

**dontjudgeabookbyitscover15****:** Much love right back to ya! Thanks for the review and stuff, hehe. I hope that you liked this chapter, and yeah, Vanitas is really creepy. But in the game Birth by Sleep, I found him really creepy and evil, so I figured in this story, that I would reflect that.

**sorasqueenb****:** You are my lover, always and forever. And I know you are enjoying evil Vanitas, so I will make sure he is always hot and semxily evil, just for you bae. Be my wife.

**DD42****:** Yes, my stories are always very dark xD I can't write happy-go-lucky things bahaha. I'm glad you like it, though! And haha, yep, Vanitas is crazy and definitely very abusive. And don't worry! Sora will come into the story soon! Thank you for your review and messages~

**MasterKaze****:** You noticed, hehe~ My stories are all very dark, but I'm glad you like them and they pull you in! I'm hoping this story will be more consistent then my previous ones, though. I hope I can stick to a singular plot bahaha. But thank you for your review and stuff!

**AngelsThatFall****:** HELLO MY LOVER, yes I will report her as soon as I figure out how to do that on insta bahaahha. But thank you, I'm glad you like this one, too! It will be very dramatic xD

**jojo22outtheregirl****:** I'm glad you're hyped on this story! And I hope you liked this chapter, too. Hope the plot isn't moving too slowly for you. Heheh. Thank you for the review!

**All right guys, thanks for all your reviews! It's extremely appreciated and makes me very happy. See you in the next chapter!**


	3. BPD

**Title: Tears on the Runway**

**Summary: Best friends aren't supposed to hurt you. Best friends are supposed to be there for you, care about you, and love you. What do you do when your best friend starts to twist the meaning of friendship into something much darker and more twisted? With every bruise, Kairi hopes she can fix him. But some people are too monstrous to be fixed. Can she be saved before he goes too far? SxK ; VxK**

**Warnings: Abuse, foul language, sexual content. Rated T for now, but rating may go up in later chapters.**

**Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me, and belong entirely to Square-Enix and Tetsuya Nomura. The only thing that belongs to me is the events of the plot, and how I have arranged them.**

**Song Used in this Chapter: '**_**Glass Hearts'**_** by Of Mice & Men.**

**xxx**

_The scars on my body, they don't even bleed._

_I never do this for me._

_The scars on my body, they don't even bleed._

_I only do this for you to see._

**It was quiet** in my AP Trigonometry class, the only sound coming from the slight scribble of pencil against paper. We were all diligently working on our bookwork, the only students daring enough to talk being the ones who were at the very back left corner of the room. I, myself wasn't nearly as daring, knowing that even one second looking away from my book could cost me my entire grade. Next to me, though, my friend Tidus didn't seem to think so.

"Psst," he hissed.

I ignored him.

"_Psst,_" he repeated, opting to toss a small paper airplane a few feet onto the top of my desk. "_Kairi_."

I shot him a glare, pointing down at my work with my pencil and then turning my attentions back to it. Tidus wasn't exactly the worst troublemaker in the class, but if anyone paid attention to him, he could be. I didn't want to get dragged into detention with him, so I needed to be attentive.

Except being attentive could be hard when your friend is practically having a seizure trying to get your attention, drawing the curious gaze of the teacher.

"_What_?" I pretty much snarled, whipping my long hair over my shoulder so I could glower at him. "_What do you want_?"

"Ayyyy, did you talk to your friend?" he asked with a wolfish grin. He was balling up a piece of notebook paper, no doubt having previously had plans to throw it at me.

"What friend?" I snapped. "I don't even know what you're talking about."

"Um, _duh_. Yuna? The one you _promised _me you'd talk to for me?"

I rolled my eyes. First Axel coming to me about Vanitas, then Namine dancing off to her date with Riku, and now this. Romance was all around me, and I didn't even want it.

At least, not where Sora wasn't concerned . . .

"No, I forgot," I whispered. "Now get back to work."

"What?" he whined with a deep pout. His cerulean eyes glimmered in despair. "But you prooooo-miiiiised~"

I scowled. "Okay, fine—I'll talk to her at lunch. Now can you let me finish this?"

My answer was a piece of rolled up notebook paper to the back of the head.

Figures.

After class, I rushed to the teacher's desk to ask for a progress report. As she was printing it out, something caught my eye. Outside in the hall, there was a flash of black and then my heart skipped a beat.

Vanitas was waiting for me.

I gulped. No doubt Axel already talked to him and told him what I'd said. I wished it _were _true, but there was no going back now. As far as everyone was going to be concerned, I had a crush on Vanitas until further notice. If it would make him happy to date me, then I would date him, especially if it stopped his violent outbursts.

I absentmindedly brushed my fingers over the planes of my stomach just as it began to growl. Man, was I hungry . . . But today I was being strict: 500 calories only, and no food around Vanitas. It had only been two days since starting this "diet," if you could call it that, but I was still hoping Vanitas would say something. The sooner he noticed the weight loss, the sooner I could go back to eating normally and feeling like I wasn't a beached whale.

Or rather, I _hoped _it would be that easy.

"Thank you," I said to the teacher, taking the progress report and slowly slipping it into my binder, and then into my backpack. In fact, by the time I was ready to actually leave the room, the students for the next class period were already trickling in. Grimacing inwardly, I knew I was going to face the fact sooner or later that somewhere along the line, I'd grown afraid of my best friend.

"Hey!" His entire face lit up when he saw me, making him look handsome and so much like _himself_ that I forgot for a second that I was covered in bruises. He walked up to me, clad in a pair of black skinny jeans, a brown belt with a rustic silver buckle, and a maroon V-neck, and grinned down at me.

"Hi," I said shyly, looking directly up into his eyes. He didn't like it when I didn't look him in the eyes . . .

Vanitas brushed his chin-length bangs out of his sunset-colored eyes—those eyes that could pierce through a stone wall—and his grin faded into a deep smirk. He was standing awfully close to me, so close that people were staring. Still, I did not look away, fearing what would happen to me if I did so.

"How was class?" he asked, his voice low and . . . Was that a tone of huskiness I detected?

Fighting the urge to shudder, I shrugged. "It was okay. I'm . . . I'm gonna be late for my next class though . . . I really need to go."

His sunny disposition seemed to shadow for the briefest of moments before it disappeared and he looked almost devastated. "You don't . . . You don't want me to walk you?"

Flustered, I shook my head wildly and reached for his hand. "No! That's not what I was saying at all! I _do _want you to walk me. Come on, let's go."

I tried to pull him along, but his feet were planted firmly on the ground. Shooting furtive glances at the nosy students surrounding us on their own ways to class, I forced a smile through the terror and urged him onward. His eyes were narrowed though, his mouth in a faint sneer. Other girls were staring at him, because after all, he was _the _most attractive guy in school, but he had eyes only for me, and not in a good way.

"No," he snarled. "You _obviously _don't want to be around me right now, so why don't you walk _yourself_?"

Eyes wild, I shook my head. "No, Ani . . . Please, I want you to walk me. I really do."

He adjusted the strap of his backpack on his shoulder, still appearing suspicious of her. "Then why the fuck'd you take so long in class? I _know _you saw me."

Cringing at his use of profanity, I continued to shake my head to the left and right. "I had to print out a progress report for my parents to look at, honest."

"Yeah?" He grabbed my hip so suddenly that it sent fire spinning through my veins. I gasped and he pulled me flush against him and reached around behind me to dig through my backpack and grab my binder. As he did so, he was glaring down into my face, almost six-foot-three inches tall, and the staring around us had progressed to shocked whispers.

"Ani," I pleaded, placing my hands flat to his chest and trying to push him away.

Without a word about it, he ripped out a chunk of papers from my binder, effectively destroying half my classwork from my first two classes of the day, including the progress report. I watched in horror as he flung the papers up into the air and let them flutter to the ground. I felt tears come to my eyes as I thought of all the consequences I was going to receive from my teachers and my parents for this, and wondered just when my best friend had become such a nightmarish monster.

"God, Vanitas, you're such an asshole."

Suddenly, Vanitas was shoved back a couple of steps, and a girl with cropped black hair and pretty blue eyes was on her knees in-between us, gathering up the fallen shreds of work. She handed them to me, and then turned to glare up at Vanitas before giving me a bright smile.

"Don't worry about him—he's off his meds," she laughed. "Anyway, I don't think we've met yet . . . ? I'm Xion Haraguchi, Vanitas and Sora's cousin."

Trying not to freak out about the fact that Vanitas was glaring daggers at me and _not _his cousin, I smiled hesitantly at the short girl in front of me. She was wearing a cute black mini dress with an A-line cute, and a pink cardigan over it, along with black combat boots.

"M-Meds?" I asked.

"Yeah, didn't he tell you? He's got Borderline . . ." She gave me a curious look. "You _are _Kairi, right?"

I nodded numbly. Borderline Personality Disorder . . . I didn't know much about it beyond the fact that the sufferers saw things in terms of black and white, life or death . . . It sure explained a lot about Vanitas's sudden change in temper . . . But jeez, this cousin of his sure was feisty and open!

Xion flicked a stray piece of ebony hair out of her eyes and gave me a hug. Over her shoulder, Vanitas looked about ready to blow a gasket. He was _not _happy about this.

"Well, I can't believe Vani-_kun _never told you about me _or _his issues. Psh, he should be ashamed." She glared at her cousin. "Vani, I don't care if we're in the hall and people are staring at us or not, you need to apologize to your best friend, or else I'm calling your mom."

Vanitas's eyeballs looked like they were going to go flying out of his head and his jaw dropped. I looked from him to Xion, saw the dark look in his eyes, and knew that if he was made to apologize to me, I was the one who was going to suffer for it.

"No, it's okay, Xion," I insisted. "It was an accident."

"Yeah . . . An accident," Vanitas said, his voice practically a low purr. His eyes roved over to me, and somehow, I knew that I was still in deep trouble.

Sometimes, I felt as though Vanitas was possessed. He just got so angry that it seemed like a demon was inside of him, sucking out all of the good and leaving nothing but pure darkness. He always apologized after he hurt me, but each time, it just seemed to get worse. I was worried that one day, the times he hurt me were going to outweigh the apologies, and there would be no turning back.

Xion opened her mouth to protest, but I lifted up one hand and shook my head again.

"Really, it was just an accident," I repeated. "Really."

Xion sighed. "Whatever. But I'm watching you, Vanitas. I'll see you guys later."

I watched her go, and then before I could blink, the bell was ringing, the halls were empty, and Vanitas had a tight hold of my hand and was whisking me along in the _opposite _direction of my next class. I didn't even bother trying to struggle, fearing that if I did, it would only make things worse. I let him drag me down a small side hallway that led to nothing, and whimpered when he slammed me up against the wall with one hand on my shoulder and the other hand pointing angrily in my face.

"Quit pissing me off, Kairi," he growled. "I _mean _it."

"I'm sorry," I mumbled.

He stepped back, rubbing his face as if he were tired, and put one hand on his hip. "I'm sorry, it's just . . . You make me _so _mad sometimes, and it didn't used to bother me at all, but now . . . You just really grate on my nerves, Kairi. If you don't knock it off, you can't blame me for lashing out, right?"

I lowered my lashes and nodded, chin trembling as I struggled to keep my emotions at bay.

Vanitas grabbed my hand and began massaging my palm and fingers. I found it all a bit unsettling, but I knew better than to yank my hand back. His eyes, so orange and bright, darkened as he brought my trembling fingers to his lips, his breath hot against my skin.

"So did Axel talk to you?" he asked quietly.

My heart fluttered and I nodded. "Yeah . . . But didn't he talk to you?"

For the first time in ages, Vanitas actually looked nervous. "No . . . But you can just tell me yourself, can't you?"

I bit my bottom lip. This was it. My one chance to be rid of him forever.

But did I _want_ to be rid of him forever? He was my best friend, and he really wasn't _always_ this way, so violent and angry. He was once normal, fun-loving, and he loved to joke around. After hearing what Xion, his cousin, had said though, it all made sense.

I had to make an executive decision: tell Vanitas the truth and leave him to suffer on his own . . . Or lie and possibly find a way to help him get better, and to go back to the way he once was.

Looking away, I did the inevitable.

"I . . . I do like you, Ani."

Vanitas's entire countenance shone like the first light of the day. He tugged on the hand of mine that he was holding and pulled me into a warm embrace. He smelled like Tag body spray.

"I'm so glad, Kai . . . I've liked you for so long, but I just . . . I didn't know how to say it."

He held me at arm's length and smiled at me. I knew it was a gentle, caring smile but to me, it just looked like the menacing grin of someone who has won a war.

"Kairi . . . Will you be my girlfriend?"

". . . Yes."

The moment the word left my lips, I knew I had just verbally signed my death warrant.

_How am I supposed to see through your eyes . . ._

_When you never saw the stars were falling at your feet?_

**xxx**

**Author's Note: Okay, so I'm sorry this took so long, and I'm really sorry it's so short, but I promise next chapter will have our beloved blue-eyed bae with the spiky brown hair in it. Be prepared for his hotness. Also, you guys should really check out the story Together with the Moon by Oathkeeper-Kairi. The author would be greatly appreciated if you'd drop a review, as that story is seriously lacking in them! And here are my review replies:**

**sorasqueenb****:** Thank you for your sweet words, bae~ I love you, and thank you for saying all that. You are the best! And yeah, Kairi is definitely going to be affected for the worse by Vanitas. She just wants to fix him so he can go back to normal, but she doesn't know what she's getting herself into. She's a sweet girl, but easy prey. ANYWAY, I love you poop in a toilet scoop woooooo.

**DD42****:** Hehe, I did change my profile picture, and yes that IS me. Haha! But anyway, do not FRET, Sora will finally make his appearance in the next chapter, I swear it. And yes, it is definitely an abusive relationship, as you could tell by how he was acting in this chapter. Thank you for your review~

**MasterKaze****:** Sorry this one wasn't as fast of an update, hahaha! I think I got some writer's block, waaah. And yeah, I do pick on Kairi a lot, and I'm not sure why, but maybe because she's my favorite character and I like to see her being rescued? Who knows! xD Thank you for your review and thank you, I do appreciate each and every one of my readers!

**AngelsThatFall****:** Awwww thank you hehe. :p I hope this chapter is brightening your day, too!

**jojo22outtheregirl****:** I'm glad you like the fic! And WHO KNOWS MAYBE I'M A SORCEROR bahahaha.

**TwilitPixel****: **IT'S TOO LATE. VANITAS HAS ALREADY PUT HER ON THE PATH! Haha, thank you for your review ~


	4. Blue Eyes

**Title: Tears on the Runway**

**Summary: Best friends aren't supposed to hurt you. Best friends are supposed to be there for you, care about you, and love you. What do you do when your best friend starts to twist the meaning of friendship into something much darker and more twisted? With every bruise, Kairi hopes she can fix him. But some people are too monstrous to be fixed. Can she be saved before he goes too far? SxK ; VxK**

**Warnings: Abuse, foul language, sexual content. Rated T for now, but rating may go up in later chapters.**

**Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me, and belong entirely to Square-Enix and Tetsuya Nomura. The only thing that belongs to me is the events of the plot, and how I have arranged them.**

**Song Used in this Chapter: '**_**Hunter Eats Hunter'**_** by Chevelle.**

**xxx**

_How long should I feel like bait now?_

_Wide open, careful where the mind goes._

_Moonlight, a superstitious glow._

_If it's my time, well I'm going out alone._

**I heard the door open** and my heart stopped. That was him. There he was, standing in the doorway with his left hand on the bill of his snapback, adjusting it, and his other hand tucked into the front pocket of his black skinny jeans. His eyes were so blue that I felt as though I were sinking into the depths of a vast ocean, and his long, unruly brown spikes fell into his face in just the right way. He smiled that perfect smile, and I promptly dropped the box of Reno's things that was in my hands.

"Criminy, Kairi!" Reno dashed over, looking irritated. "That has my new PS4 in it!"

Blushing furiously, I apologized. "_Oppa, mianhaeyo_."

"Dude, I'm sure it's fine." Sora fixed his hat one more time and then came to help Reno gather up the things that had come spilling out of the toppled over box.

Axel came up the stairs outside the open front door of my brother's new apartment, carrying a small end table and wearing a big, goofy grin on his face.

"Only here for five minutes, and Sora's already dropping shit. So clumsy."

I opened my mouth to protest, but to my surprise, Sora interjected.

"Oh, you know me." His eyes met mine and he winked roguishly. "Clumsiest son of a bitch here. Here, dude." He handed Reno the box and then stood up and put his hands on his hips. "So what are we doing here? What's the status?"

It took me a long second to realize that he was talking to me due to the fact that I was still trying to overcome my shock at the fact that he had actually taken the blame for me (and Reno was probably never going to let me live it down, because he had a grin the size of the blazing sun aimed directly at me). I blinked rapidly and lamely said, "Huh?"

Sora raised one perfectly arched eyebrow. "The status. Meaning, how far along are we in the moving process. Like, what do you need me to do, Red?"

I tapped my chin and looked around. Right, this was why my brothers had me here. I was too tiny to lift heavy things even though my muscles were toned and strong from cheerleading, but I was excellent with my organization skills.

"Okay, so I labeled everyone's boxes accordingly," I started to explain, though all I could think about was how worried I was about my outfit. I had chosen to wear a pair of black yoga shorts and a white tank top. Not exactly my cutest choice. "Reno's electronics, clothes, and other stuff are in here, in the living room, and we're trying to work on moving them back to his room on the right so that we can get the furniture in here. Axel's stuff is already in his room, and the kitchen boxes, I'm working on unpacking those right now. You can just help Axel get the furniture out of the moving van and up the stairs because he's not exactly going to be able to move beds and stuff on his own."

Sora nodded and took off his hat. I felt my eyes go wide as he leaned down (hr was way over six feet tall) and placed in on the back of my head in a jaunty manner. He smirked.

"I guess I'll get to work. Thanks, boss." He turned and jogged down the stairs after Axel.

I had a mini panic attack and briefly felt like never washing my hair again and smelling the inside of the hat. But then I realized how insane that would be, so instead, I just pushed the hat down a bit tighter on my long crimson hair, and then went back into the kitchen to finish putting away all of the dishes.

Reno and Axel didn't have much, but everything they _did _have, they had bought themselves. My brothers had been saving money for nearly two years now, just so they could move out. They swore that it was nothing against our parents, but I had a feeling that it had _everything _to do with them. I could barely handle the publicity and other stuff that came with my father being in the public eye, and my brothers were probably just over it. They both had well-paying jobs, so I guess they felt like, 'why not just move out?' At least I knew I had a place to escape to if I ever _did _feel overwhelmed by my parents' expectations, or by the press coming after my family like vultures.

Even now, if I looked out the front window in the kitchen, I could see a news van. The reporter was standing there with her cameraman, looking up at the house curiously. I shook my head in disgust. I hated the press.

As I grabbed a stack of plates, I forgot about the fact that my new boyfriend Vanitas had nearly broken three of my fingers on purpose the other night and dropped them all onto the floor. The resounding crash was loud, and the porcelain shattered into what looked like a thousand pieces, some of them cutting into my feet a bit. I jumped back, shaking my throbbing hand out and hopping on one foot as blood welled up from cuts on my toes. Tears filled my eyes and I cursed under my breath.

Reno appeared in the doorway, looking bewildered. When he saw what had happened, he gasped and jumped to action. Stepping around the mess, he gathered me up into his arms bridal style and carried me all the way to the bathroom. He set me on my rump on the counter and immediately started tending to the cuts on my feet.

"_Oppa_!" I whined. I hated when he picked me up and reminded me of how small I was. "What about the mess?"

"Don't worry about it," he growled. "I told you not to lift heavy things."

"_Aigoo_, it was only like four plates."

He shot me a look. "Yeah, four plates too many."

I frowned and gazed down at my fingers. Nobody had noticed how swollen and bruised they were, and to be honest, I'd rather Reno think it was my weakness that had caused me to drop the plates. I didn't want him to know about Vanitas's temper. He was just . . . Misunderstood. I don't think that Reno would take the time to see Vanitas's side of things, so it was probably best to just keep my bruises to myself.

I thought back to the other night, when it had happened. Vanitas had been ecstatic during the first week of our relationship, and hadn't done much more than hug me a lot and hold my hand everywhere. So it had come as a shock when he tried to kiss me, and since I had never been kissed before, I had reacted on impulse and pushed him away. As you can imagine, that was a big no-no. His face had literally erupted with rage, he'd grabbed my hand, and bent my fingers as far back as he could while he listened to me scream. The only thing that had stopped him from completely snapping the bone was the fact that we were tucked in the alleyway next to the restaurant we'd just come out of, and people had heard me wailing. He'd had to hug me close and tell the passerby that my mother had just passed away.

"Shit, Kairi," Reno suddenly said, snapping me out of my deep reverie.

"Huh?" I blinked owlishly. "What?"

"You've got a piece of it stuck in the bottom of your foot. I can't see it or get it out, but I can feel it."

I shrugged. I couldn't even feel it.

"I can get some tweezers, but it's gonna hurt."

Unfortunately for him and for me, I was used to pain.

"Go ahead," I said softly.

As he rummaged through the moving box that was next to me on the bathroom counter, Sora and Axel came through the hallway, pushing Axel's mattress on its side. They were both red-faced and sweaty, probably from moving things, and they both gave us weird looks as they went by.

Oh, crap. Ugh, I didn't want Sora to see this and think I was some weak girl who couldn't even lift a couple of plates. Which I was. Even though it wasn't really my fault. Either way, this was embarrassing.

"I'm guessing this is why half of our plates are in pieces on the kitchen floor?" Axel said, coming into the bathroom to inspect my feet. He wiped sweat from his brow.

Sora crossed his arms over his broad, muscular chest and leaned nonchalantly against the door frame. I couldn't help but stare at him sidelong. He was just so attractive . . .

"I guess I'm not the clumsiest one here then?" he joked.

Axel chuckled, "Nope, dude. Kairi will forever be the clumsiest person we know. She literally is _always _covered in bruises."

"I know," Sora said, and our eyes met. I felt my heart skip a beat.

Did he . . . Did he _know_?

I looked away, feeling a bit panicky. I wouldn't be surprised if he _did _know. Vanitas was his younger brother, after all. But what if he said something to my family? And honestly, if he _did _know what was going on, why _hadn't _he said anything yet?

"Ready, Kai?" Reno was kneeling down in front of me, holding my foot in one hand and the tweezers in another. "Like I said, it's gonna hurt."

I nodded, biting my lower lip. From some reason, I was glad I was wearing Sora's hat. I briefly reached up to touch the side of it. It was sort-of silly, but it felt a little bit comforting.

I felt Sora looking at me again, and I knew my cheeks were bright red.

"Let me use my phone light," Axel said, turning on the flashlight on his cell and holding it where it could shine ample light for Reno to see.

Reno promptly began to dig into my foot with the tweezers and I just about fainted. So maybe I _wasn't _as used to pain as I told myself I was. I hissed in agony and leaned back against the glass mirror, covering my face with my hands. It felt like my entire foot was aflame. I peeked through my fingers, saw that Reno's fingers were covered in blood, and I fainted.

_You ever tried to hold your breath?_

_Well, here's a tip: don't follow through._

_You feel the nightmares never end,_

_and now it seems it's coming true._

I awoke hours later, the sound of my cell phone vibrating in my ear. I blinked owlishly and sat up. It appeared to be that I was sprawled out on Axel's bed, and my phone was ringing on the bedside table. I glanced at the Caller ID.

My new boyfriend Vanitas, of course.

"Hello?" I mumbled with a yawn.

"Hey, you." He sounded uncharacteristically bright and chipper. "What's up?"

"Uh, nothing," I said, lying back against the pillows. "Just woke up from a nap."

"A nap? Hah, it's like eight. Why were you sleeping in for so late?"

"I was helping my brothers move and I dropped a plate," I explained, sitting up again so I could inspect my wounded foot. "I got glass in my foot and Reno had to help me get it out."

"Aw," he replied. "That doesn't sound fun. Too bad I wasn't there to kiss it better!"

I frowned. Why was Vanitas being so nice? Was it because we were dating now? Was it because I had actually answered on the first call of the night? Or was it because he was tricking me?

I soon began to suspect the latter when he asked his next question.

"So . . . Who helped you guys move?" Vanitas asked. I heard a snack bag crumpling in the background, followed by the sound of him crunching away at some sort of chip or cracker.

"Just me, Axel, and Reno." I don't know why I left Sora's name out. Sora was Vanitas's brother, so would he _really _get angry at me for anything? I glanced next to me on the bed. The snapback hat that Sora had placed upon my head was there, obviously having fallen off my head during my slumber. I hid a smile.

"Really?" Vanitas's tone was a little strained. "Just the three of you?"

"Yeah. Who else would be there?"

Vanitas munched away at his food for a minute and then he quietly said, "You know what I really hate?"

I couldn't help but feel relieved. He was changing the subject. Vanitas didn't usually change the subject when he was really mad, so this had to mean that he believed my lie.

"What do you really hate?" I asked, fingering the bill of Sora's hat.

"Liars."

The line went dead.

I stared at my cell phone, my hands shaking a bit. Of course. I should have known something was up. Gulping, I set my phone down on the mattress next to Sora's hat and turned myself so that I could get up. My foot still hurt, so I limped my way over to the door and opened it.

Axel was standing there. "Whoa!" he cried in surprised. "Just came to check on you."

"It's really hard to walk," I told him miserably, trying not to think about the firestorm that Vanitas would likely rain upon my head next time we were together. "I don't know if I'll be able to go to the next cheer practice . . ."

"Oh, that's not good," he grimaced. "Don't you have a competition coming up?"

I pouted. "_Ne_."

"Damn, that would be really shitty if you had to miss it." He shook his head. "Anyway, you ready to go home? _Oma _has been blowing up my phone, asking where you are."

I looked away. I didn't want to go home. Vanitas knew where I lived, but he didn't know where my brothers' new place was. As long as I was here, I was safe.

"Can't I just stay the night here?"

"But you have no clothes for school, silly." He ruffled my hair. "Sora said he'd take you home."

I blushed. "S-Sora?"

Axel raised one eyebrow. "Is that a _blush _I see?" he teased. "Don't you have a _boyfriend _now?"

"I'm not blushing." I pushed him aside and limped down the hall to the bathroom. I didn't want anyone to know how I felt about Sora, for one thing, and I also didn't want anyone thinking that I didn't have feelings for Vanitas. If anyone found out that I was only dating Vanitas to keep him happy, then Vanitas would kill me. Now, I didn't know this for sure, but honestly? I had no desire to find out.

I rounded the corner to the bathroom and nearly smacked nose-first into a very tall someone's chest. At the same time, I accidentally stepped on my wounded foot wrong and cried out in pain. I nearly collapsed, but the certain tall someone wrapped one arm around my waist and held me close.

"I guess this is what happens when the two clumsiest people in the house meet, _ne_?" Sora chuckled, his chin-length bangs falling forward as he looked down at me. "_Mianhaeyo._"

"No, I'm the one who's sorry," I mumbled back in Korean. "It's my foot . . . It still hurts."

"Nah, it's chill," he said in that unbearably sexy drawl of his that never failed to make my knees weak. "Need any help in the bathroom?"

I stared up at him, wide-eyed. Was he . . . Was he serious?

Just then, both him and Axel burst out laughing. Sora let go of me and brushed his hair out of his face.

"He's just messing with you, Kairi," Axel laughed. "Jeez, you're so gullible."

"Hurry up, you guys!" Reno suddenly hollered from the living room. "_Oma_ is on the phone, and she's freaking out. She wants Kairi home now."

"You heard him," Axel said, patting me lightly on the rump. "Chop, chop."

I stuck my tongue out at him and moved past Sora to go into the bathroom. He still smelled unbearably delicious, and it wasn't helping me to stop blushing like a maniac. Just as I moved to shut the bathroom door, Sora grabbed the edge of it to stop me.

"Huh?" I stammered.

He smirked. "Sure you don't need any help in there?"

I think my entire body was bright red.

"I'm sure!" I squeaked out, beyond embarrassed.

It took everything I had in me to stifle my scream of excitement when Sora ruffled my hair, much like Axel and Reno usually did to me. It felt like he was a famous celebrity, and he was paying attention to me. Christ, I felt like asking for his autograph . . .

Feeling silly and utterly mortified, I slammed the door in his face and locked it. I heard him and Axel both laughing from outside, and I leaned back against the door, struggling to regain my breathing.

Why did I do that? Why, why, _why_ did I slam the door in his face? If he didn't already think I was a naïve, childish freak, he definitely did _now_. Good God, I wasn't going to be able to look him in the eyes ever again.

I made to go for the toilet, but stopped and looked at myself in the mirror. A frown decorated my pretty feature and I sighed. I was trying so hard to lose weight, and the scale was showing me that I was succeeding, but for some reason, whenever I looked in the mirror, I just looked . . . Bigger.

My eyes filled with tears. I hated failing more than anything else on the planet. I was an excellent student, a phenomenal cheerleader, and a great friend . . . And I couldn't even lose a few pounds and look thinner? If I didn't shape up fast, Vanitas was going to notice that I was looking thicker, and he was going to get mad at me for not trying.

I looked away from my reflection. I knew what I was saying to myself made no amount of sense. If any of my friends or family found out I was eating less than 500 calories a day and sometimes not at all, they would think I was insane. My mother would be heartbroken, and my father would likely be horrified.

Reno called my name through the door. "Hurry the fuck up! Mom's really pissed off, and if you aren't home in a half-hour, then she's not gonna let you come over anymore!"

"Fine!" I snapped angrily, though it was more at myself than at him.

I looked at myself one more time and sighed again. I was going to have to do some research online. There had to be an even faster way for me to lose the weight. There just had to.

'_You have to do this, Kairi_,' I thought miserably as I went to the toilet. '_You have to make Vanitas happy, or he's just going to keep hurting you._'

_Night, you're a friend of mine; another family._

_Better not divide, any, armed with its beastly doom._

_I'll beat this jackal down—this interference ends._

_Send it back beyond._

**xxx **

**Author's Note: You guys, I am SO SORRY for the long break I took, but I literally had the worst writer's block. I completely lost inspiration for writing. I quit my job, and then got a new job, and then I got FFX HD Remaster, and was playing that and just had no inspiration to write at all. Anyway, I hope you guys don't think the plot is moving too slowly . . . Just bear with me a couple of chapters, and then it will get cray (as my stories usually do haha). Anyway, thank you for your support and for waiting patiently for me to update! I love you all! I was going to keep writing review replies, but there was too many in the last chapter for me to do all the copy-pasting of the name and just . . . Just know that I appreciate your reviews, and from now on, I will reply privately to your reviews if at all possible. Thank you again, and see you next time! **


	5. Spiraling

**Title: Tears on the Runway**

**Summary: Best friends aren't supposed to hurt you. Best friends are supposed to be there for you, care about you, and love you. What do you do when your best friend starts to twist the meaning of friendship into something much darker and more twisted? With every bruise, Kairi hopes she can fix him. But some people are too monstrous to be fixed. Can she be saved before he goes too far? SxK ; VxK**

**Warnings: This chapter has some REALLY foul language, and a lewd moment that is of sexual nature. Be forewarned.**

**Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me, and belong entirely to Square-Enix and Tetsuya Nomura. The only thing that belongs to me is the events of the plot, and how I have arranged them.**

**Song Used in this Chapter: '**_**New Demons'**_** by I See Stars.**

**xxx**

_Open up your eyes and you'll see,_

_That I'm not perfect._

_That's what I'm trying to be,_

_'Cause I know you're worth it._

_These new demons are changing me inside,_

_Changing me inside._

"**Hey, Kairi?"**

The first word Sora had spoken during the whole car ride home, came out of his mouth as I was stepping out of the passenger's side. Our ride had been awkwardly quiet, but now, as I looked back at him over my shoulder, he was smiling that flirtatious, dazzling grin.

"Huh?" I said, and I was beginning to think that 'huh' was turning into my catchphrase.

"You just gonna take my hat with you?" He nodded to the snapback that I was holding in my lap.

Blushing, I handed it back to him, and he tossed it into the backseat.

"Thanks," he said. "See you around?"

"Y-Yeah . . ." I got out of the car and slowly shut the door. Stepping back onto the curb, I gave him a small wave and watched his car speed away. I knew I wasn't going to be able to forget that car ride, as quiet as it had been. He drove a silver Mazda 3, and there was a fir tree-shaped air freshener hanging from the rearview mirror. It filled the whole car with the scent of pine, and it lingered in my nose even as I stood outside my house.

I wondered if Sora saw me the way I saw him, and I found myself wishing I had gotten away with stealing his hat.

God, I was such a creep.

Turning finally, I trudged slowly up the walk and into the house. The only light that was on was the one in the entryway, where my mother greeted me anxiously.

"_Aissh_, your brothers are so irresponsible . . ." She helped me out of my coat and looked me over with concern. "Reno told me you hurt yourself?"

I nodded and gently brushed her hands away from me. "I broke some plates and stepped in some glass."

"Well, how are you feeling? Do you need to go to the hospital?" She was following me down the hall and into the kitchen. I felt like a giant bubble was growing inside of me. I felt uncomfortable.

"_Anio_," I mumbled, heading straight for the refrigerator. I opened it and stared into it while mym other talked in my ear in angry Korean.

"I told your brothers to watch over you, and they couldn't even do that! You got hurt, and you weren't even there for a full day. Well. See if I ever let you go over there again. No way. Not with their irresponsible mannerisms. Were they smoking those cigarettes, too? Jesus Christ, I've told them time and time again to quit those nasty habits. They're going to get sick. I _do _worry about them, but they infuriate me to no end. I—"

I couldn't take it anymore. Her voice was like nails on a chalkboard, and the bubble inside of me was about to pop. I was scared that if it did, my skin would rip at the seams and I would never be the same again. I just wanted her to _shut up_, I was so _damn_ hungry and overwhelmed and Vanitas was angry with me and I made a fool of myself in front of Sora and just . . .

"_Oma_!" I screamed, my eyes scouring the shelves and staring at all of the food I wasn't going to allow myself to eat. "Just _please_! Stop!"

My mother stared at me in shock, her hands going to her mouth.

I slammed the door of the fridge shut so hard that the sauce bottles inside rattled loudly, jarring the strained silence that had settled over us. Whirling on my mother, I glared daggers at her.

"Reno and Axel are not the reason why I hurt my foot, okay? So just leave them alone! I'm going to bed." I stormed off, leaving my poor mother in a stupor, and bounded up the stairs.

I slammed my bedroom door behind me and leaned against the wood, holding a shaking hand over my stomach. It was growling loudly and it _hurt_. I didn't know what to do. I had been trying so hard to lose weight for the past week, but it didn't seem like it was going so well.

Rushing over to my walk-in closet, I closed myself inside, turned on the overhead light, and went all the way to the back. Pulling out my hidden scale, I placed it on the carpet and stepped onto it. I knew scales weren't as accurate on the carpet, but at the moment, I didn't care. I was on the verge of a meltdown, and the only thing that could stop it was seeing the number.

_105._

I sucked in my breath and combed my fingers backward through my hair. So I had lost one pound since the day before yesterday. Strange, because I had thought weight loss would bring me relief, yet here I was, angry at myself for not losing more. I was going to have to try harder. No solids, no liquid calories, and only water for a couple days.

I turned off the light and left the closet to brush my hair at my vanity. I sat down on the cushioned seat and pulled all of my crimson hair to one side of my head, watching as it fell over my shoulder and clear down to the crook of my arm. I picked up the brush, peering closely at my raven roots (which still needed to be re-dyed), and began to brush.

I began to think of Sora. Did he like girls with long hair? Well, if he did, then why hadn't he noticed me yet? Not that him noticing me could really do anything, seeing as I was dating his brother. I felt the teeth of the brush against my scalp and tears filled my eyes. Did Sora like skinny girls? Is that why he hadn't noticed me _before_ I started dating his brother? Because I wasn't thin enough for him?

My heart stopped as I pulled the brush out of my hair and something came away with it. Looking down in horror, I saw that quite a few clumps of my beautiful crimson tresses had come out. Alarmed, I briefly recalled reading something online about how depriving yourself of food (starvation) caused your hair to fall out. But . . . It had only been a week! How could I already be losing my hair?

'_It's not because of my restricting,' _I thought stubbornly. '_It can't be. Maybe . . . Maybe I'm just stressed out from school and cheer and everything? Yeah, that's it . . .'_

Hands shaking, I set my brush down on my vanity and went to the edge of my bed. I pulled off my clothes and climbed into bed in my undergarments, curling in on myself and trying my best to fall asleep. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to calm the storm that was swirling inside my mind. I saw him when I closed my eyes—those vibrant cobalt irises. But I also saw eyes the color of sunset, and soon, they were starting to blend as one.

I couldn't tell who I was more afraid of: Sora, for being so enticing . . . Or Vanitas, for being so violent.

_These new demons,_

_They're eating me alive._

_Pushing and pulling,_

_The heart out from inside._

I walked slowly up the front steps of the school. Vanitas had texted me, and was going to meet me at my locker. I didn't want to know what he was going to say or do when he saw me, and at this point, I was scared out of my mind. The way he had hung up on me the night before . . . I knew that I was going to be in for a world of hurt.

"Hey, Kairi."

My friends from cheer bounced up to me, looking alarmed at my slight limp.

"What happened to your foot?" Olette asked worriedly.

"I broke some plates and stepped on them," I pouted, adjusting the strap of my backpack on my shoulder. "I hope it's better in time for practice tomorrow . . ."

"Waaah," Namine mock-wailed. "And for the competition this weekend!"

I blanched. "Omigod, I didn't even think about that!"

"You _forgot_ about our competition?" Olette looked horrified. "_Seriously_? We've been working on our routine for like, two months! How the Hell did you _forget_?"

I blushed, feeling guilty, and looked away. "It must have . . . It must have slipped my mind."

Namine patted me on the back. "Don't worry, Kairi. You remember now, so that's all that matters. Just try your best to get better, okay? You're the best flyer on the team!"

"Thanks, Namine," I said, hugging my friend. I turned to Olette to apologize, but she shook her head and embraced me.

"You going to class?" Olette asked when we separated (we had the same first period class).

"Um . . . I have to meet Vanitas at my locker," I stammered a bit nervously.

Olette and Namine giggled and exchanged glances.

"Sorry, hehe," Namine said with a mischievous grin. "Wouldn't want to get in the way of your _boyfriend_~"

Olette threw me a wink. "Just don't do _too _much kissing! See ya later!"

We went our separate paths, my friends practically skipping off, whereas each one of my footsteps felt heavy as lead. I made my way to my locker, pushing through the crowded hallways and giving friends and classmates greetings as I went by. Sometimes, even though I felt lonely, I forgot how many friends I truly had. It was just too bad none of them knew what was going on between Vanitas and I.

As I neared my locker, I saw Vanitas leaning up against it. He was looking down at his phone, and he was wearing a pair of black skinny jeans and a white V-neck. His hair looked blacker than and usual and when he looked up, his eyes pierced through me. I couldn't fully tell if he was angry or not—his gaze was guarded.

"Hi," I said cautiously to him, testing the waters. I kept my eyes lowered.

He gazed down at me for a long time before crossing his arms over his chest and stepping extremely close to me. He leaned down to meet my short height, his mouth next to my ear and arms still folded, and whispered to me.

"You gonna show me some respect and look me in the eyes or not?"

I gulped. "I . . . I'm sorry."

I flinched when his fingers lightly caressed my cheek, and the dry chuckle that escaped his lips was all wrong. I felt his eyes scouring me.

"You're looking pretty," he said.

My eyes went wide. Did he notice my weight loss? I looked up at him and as soon as I did, I regretted it. The grin that decorated his wickedly handsome features was enough to tell me that I was in trouble.

"Skip first period with me," he said, still grinning.

I was terrified of the thought of what he would do to me, so I shook my head. "I . . . I can't. There's a quiz, and—"

"It wasn't a request, Kairi."

I closed my eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath. When I opened my eyes again, Vanitas was leaning down by my ear again.

"Meet me outside the back of the Library in fifteen minutes." And then he vanished.

I nearly burst out into tears, burying my face in my hands and struggling to calm my breathing. I shouldn't have lied to Vanitas about Sora helping with the move. I knew it was a bad idea from the start, but I had done it anyway. I had no idea why. Whether it was due to the fact that I wanted some semblance of freedom from him or not, I had no clue, but I sure was going to pay for that little mistake.

So like a robot on autopilot, I made my way to the Library. I knew that I was seriously going to regret missing class and the quiz, but I knew that if I disobeyed my best friend-turned-boyfriend, I would sorely regret that even more. My fingers were trembling, so I wrapped them around the strap of my messenger bag tightly. I kept my head down, hoping that nobody in my first period saw me and questioned why I was going the opposite direction I should have been going.

Before I knew what was going on or how I got there, I was standing outside the back of the Library, in the alleyway between it and the Cafeteria building. I looked to my left and saw nothing. I looked to my right, and my vision went black for a moment.

Sprawled out on the ground, I blinked rapidly and stared up at Vanitas's angry snarl in shock.

"You fucking think you can just lie to me, and not be punished for it, you fucking bitch?" Vanitas kicked me so hard in the ribcage that the pain suffocated me. I curled in on myself, whimpering—I knew better than to scream.

"I'm . . . Sorry," I gasped out.

"You're _sorry_?" He kneeled down beside me and gathered the long hair at the back of my head. He dragged me up to my knees and then to my feet, his eyes blazing brighter with each whine of protest that came from me.

"Yes," I whispered, my vision blurring. "I don't know why I lied, I just . . . I just did."

"You didn't think that I would know where my older brother was?" Vanitas snapped, shaking me while still holding my hair in hand. My face scrunched up and I held back another cry. "He fucking _told_ me before he left. So I asked you because I was testing you—to see if you would lie to me about other guys. And you know what?"

He paused for a moment, and I felt him nuzzling his face against my throat. He chuckled again, and it danced unpleasantly along my skin.

"You _failed_."

Suddenly, I found myself thrown upward, so that the back of my head slammed against the brick wall of the Cafeteria building. Vanitas was standing in front of me, holding his forearm against my throat and glaring almost maniacally down at me as he watched me choke for air.

"You're lucky I don't beat the living shit out of you right here," he threatened dangerously. "I fuckin' hate liars, and I won't have my girlfriend lying to me. Got it?"

"Y-Yes . . ." I gasped quietly, my chest burning for oxygen. My fingers clawed at the wall behind me, low at my sides so he didn't see my distress.

"_What _was that?"

"_Ne_!" I gargled. "_Ne_!"

"Good." He took a step back and watched me massage my throat and cough for a moment. His gaze roved over me, up and down, and I was careful to avoid it.

He asked, "Why are you wearing sweatpants today?"

"I . . . My clothes are too big," I said hoarsely, brushing my bangs away from my face.

He arched one eyebrow. "You on a diet?"

I nodded and started to move past him, but he grabbed my arm and pushed me back to the wall again. He was looking at me differently now. Less anger, more of . . . Something else.

Vanitas ran his hands down through my hair and fingered the strands deftly, placing his other hand on the wall above my head. He smirked and looked down at me, and it scared me a little bit. I couldn't put my finger on what was going through his mind. All I could think was perhaps he was going to kiss me? I had never had my first kiss before, and the only time Vanitas had ever tried, he almost broke my fingers because I wouldn't let him. I was afraid that if he tried right now, I would be too scared to push him back this time around.

I didn't want my first kiss to be with Vanitas, no way, no how.

"Lemme see."

Confused, I said, "Huh?"

"Let . . . Me _see_." He let my hair slip through his fingers so he could reach down and finger the hem of my pink tee shirt. Goosebumps prickled along my arms and I shook my head.

"Ani . . . Ani, no, I . . ." I swallowed, hard. "I'm not c-comfortable with that . . ."

"Come on," he said, his lips ghosting upon my ear. My cheeks flushed and I went stiff.

"No," I whispered.

He started to lift up my shirt, and I panicked. Trying to keep my emotions in check, I gently grabbed his hand and massaged his fingers. I didn't want him to think I was pushing him away, because then he might get mad. He only laughed and pushed past my quivering hands, slipping his hand underneath my shirt so his fingers could caress my lower back. I arched my chest upward, trying to escape his icy touch, but t only brought me closer to him. Soon, both his hands were under my shirt and on my back, and he was kissing my neck. I just about lost it.

"Vanitas, _stop_!" I cried, placing my hands on his chest and shoving him backward so hard that he nearly toppled over. Upon realizing how angry he was going to be, my hands flew to my mouth in shock.

Vanitas slowly stood up straight, and I turned tail and ran for the door.

"Oh, no you _fucking. Don't._" Vanitas grabbed my hand and whipped me around so fast that it felt like my arm was being yanked out of the socket. As I was forcibly turned to face him, he balled his left hand into a fist and punched me in the right eye. I wailed in pain and started to fall to my knees, clutching my throbbing, pulsating face.

"You fucking bitch," he growled, his voice dripping with ire. He pushed me fully into a kneeling position and grabbed more fistfuls of my hair. In one of the most traumatizing events I've ever had to go through, he made as if to unzip his pants and force me to do something that I did _not _want to do.

"No, please," I begged, tears falling down my slowly-swelling cheeks. I placed my hands on his thighs and tried to push him away, practically shrieking in terror. "Ani, _please_!"

"You wanna fucking push me, slut?" Vanitas roared. "You wanna fucking call the shots? No, bitch. _No_. So you're gonna do what the fuck I _want_, you understand?"

My voice was lost amongst my bone-wracking sobs.

He scowled and stepped away from me. I buried my face in my hands, both relieved that I had escaped him sexually abusing me, but in despair over the fact that I would have a black eye that would be impossible to hide for very long. I could tell by the way his shoulders were shaking that he was at his angriest, so I hurried to stifle my cries before he attacked me again.

"Next time . . ." He spun around and pointed down at me angrily, all while walking toward the Library back door. "Next time, you won't be so lucky, Kairi. Next time, I'm going to _fucking_ teach you a lesson."

I sat there on the concrete for the rest of the class period, knees hugged to my chest as my mind completely and totally broke down.

Somehow, I knew that from here on out, things were only going to get worse.

_Just the thought of you,_

_Walking hand in hand,_

_With somebody else . . ._

_Reinventing things we do,_

_But they'll never match_

_To the love thrown down the well._

_If I can't have you,_

_Then nobody else can..._

**xxx **

**Author's Note: Hey guys! Quick update this time~ I do apologize for how crazy, violent, and sexual Vanitas is. He's mentally ill, so he is acting as such, unfortunately. I just hope that you guys are enjoying the story! And yes, it will only get darker. And next chapter, I promise there will be more Sora and his smexi goodness. And thank you everyone who reviewed, you guys are awesome!**


	6. A Little Crush

**Title: Tears on the Runway**

**Summary: Best friends aren't supposed to hurt you. Best friends are supposed to be there for you, care about you, and love you. What do you do when your best friend starts to twist the meaning of friendship into something much darker and more twisted? With every bruise, Kairi hopes she can fix him. But some people are too monstrous to be fixed. Can she be saved before he goes too far? SxK ; VxK**

**Warnings: Back to the standard warning for the whole story, though this chapter does not have lewd material: Abuse, foul language, sexual content. Rated T for now, but rating may go up in later chapters.**

**Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me, and belong entirely to Square-Enix and Tetsuya Nomura. The only thing that belongs to me is the events of the plot, and how I have arranged them.**

**Song Used in this Chapter: '**_**Speechless' **_**by Memphis May Fire.**

**xxx**

_It's a mystery, too good to be true. _

_I find my purpose when I look at you._

_I bleed transparent. _

_It's not the way I choose, _

_But it's only when I'm vulnerable_

_My true colors shine through._

I broke my mirror one night, because I couldn't stand to look at myself anymore. And it wasn't because of the bruises, nor the black and purple contusion that ringed my eye (the one I was continuously piling foundation and powder on top of). It was because of the fact that I was disgusting. Fully and completely disgusting. I wasn't sure when things had started to go wrong, but all I knew was that I wasn't doing a good enough job trying to fix them. Vanitas was sick in the head, and I didn't know how to help him.

I stared at my throbbing, bleeding fist; stared at the tiny shards of glass that studded my flesh, and my bottom lip began to quiver. I kept replaying the encounter I'd had with my boyfriend outside of the Library a few days ago, unable to stop myself from doing so. I could still hear his rage and feel his fingers in my hair, pushing my face against his groin. The pure torment of the event was keeping me up at night.

Someone knocked on my door and I merely stood there. There was no hiding this.

My mother nearly lost her head when she came in and saw what I had done. She started shrieking things in Korean, bewildered and astounded. I stared at her blankly, silent tears rolling down my cheeks in unison with the blood that dripped off of my knuckles and onto the floor. I had no words. There was no way I could tell her what was really going on with me—about Vanitas's abuse and my self destructive behaviors. I couldn't tell anyone.

My mother continued to prattle on wildly even as she dragged me to the bathroom. She was gentle as she cleaned out my wounds in stark contrast to the way she was berating me. She was angry that I had broken the mirror of my vanity, confused as to why I had done it, irritated over my bad attitude lately, and concerned that I wasn't focusing on school enough now that I was "dating that boy."

"He's not just a boy, _oma_," I mumbled, my tears drying on my face. "You've known him forever. He's been my best friend for years."

"Do _not _take that tone with me," she snapped, tossing the bloody napkins into the trash and turning to dig through a bathroom drawer for a pair of tweezers. "I don't care how long you or I or your father have known him. He is still getting in the way of your studies, and I don't want you seeing him anymore."

It took me a moment to realize what she was saying, and I started to panic. I knew my mother was only interested in my academic welfare, but she didn't know how bad it would be if I stopped seeing Vanitas. In fact, it wasn't _possible _for me to stop seeing him. If I tried to break up with him, he'd probably kill me. I couldn't take that chance.

"_Oma_!" I cried frenetically. "_Oma_, _anio_!"

"Do _not _argue with me." She started picking the glass out of my hand with the tweezers, and none-too-gently. "You are acting out, and it's because of that boy. No more dating him. Studies only, do you understand?"

"_Oma_!" I whined.

"_Anio_!" She glared daggers at me, and I knew if I talked again, I would be grounded. And while that would seem like a sweet reprieve, it would do the opposite. Vanitas would probably punish me for getting grounded, and say that I did it on purpose.

"Fine," I said. I snatched my hand back and stormed into my room. I slammed the door and threw the lock. My mother was pounding her fists against the door, but I ignored it. I placed my hands on my hips and stared down at the glass that sparkled in the carpet. I didn't care how much that vanity cost. It felt good to hit the mirror. It felt good to destroy my image right in front of me—it made me feel as though I had control over myself.

My eyes traveled over to my backpack. I hadn't been turning in my assignments lately, and I wasn't sure I had the capacity in my heart to care. I knew the consequences of a missed assignment in regards to my path to college. I was in so many AP and Honors classes that I honestly couldn't afford to get any less than a perfect 100 for my grades. Now that I had already fallen behind, I was too overwhelmed to catch up.

I grabbed my cell phone off of my desk and called one of the only people who I knew would care.

"Reno?" I said shakily into the mouthpiece, chin trembling. "Can you . . . Can you p-please come pick me up?"

"Sure, sweetie," my older brother said. "I'm headed home from work right now. Is everything okay?"

I sniffled. ". . . No." I started to cry, placing my free hand against my forehead and bowing my head.

"Awwwwww," Reno said worriedly. "What happened? Did you and Vanitas have a fight?"

"No, it's not _that_ . . ."

"Was it our parents?"

"Mm-mm." I sighed. "It's just . . . Everything. I really need to sleepover tonight."

"That's cool with me, sis. I'll be over really soon, okay?"

"Okay," I whimpered, and then hung up the phone. I walked to my closet and grabbed a change of clothes and some pajamas. As I did so, my eyes still watering, I tried not to look at my scale. I didn't know if I should bring it with me or not. I was only going to be gone at my brothers' apartment for one night, but . . . Weighing myself was a nightly occurrence. Sometimes multiple times a night. Could I stand to be without my scale just this once?

Apparently not, because it was the first thing I packed into my black Victoria's Secret overnight bag.

I was throwing my hair up into a bun when Reno texted me to tell me he was outside. I replied quickly, slipped on my dark brown moccasins, threw on a pale blue hoodie, and rushed out my bedroom door.

My mother was coming up the stairs with a small hand vacuum, chattering angrily in Korean on the phone to one of her friends, and she stopped in the hall when she saw me. She did _not _look happy.

"And just where do you think _you're _going?" she demanded.

"To Reno and Axel's," I answered curtly, pushing past her down the stairs.

"Oh, really?" She made a _tch_ing sound of disapproval. "No, you are not. You're going to march back up these stairs and help me clean up the mess in your room."

"No," I said defiantly, continuing toward the front door.

"_Aissh_!" She came after me angrily. "How dare you use that tone with me? You are grounded, and you're _not _leaving this house!"

"Just leave me alone, okay?" I whirled on her. "You don't understand _anything_! Nothing! I'm going through a lot of stuff, okay, mom? I need to get away, and I need you to just leave me _alone_!"

My mother dropped the vacuum and her free hand went to her mouth in shock. It was uncomfortably silent, save for the anxious cries of her friend coming out of my mom's cell phone receiver.

"What . . . On _Earth_ . . . Happened to your _eye_?!" my mother gasped.

Bewildered, I dropped my duffel bag and ran to the downstairs bathroom. I skidded to a halt, turned the light on, and looked in the mirror. Much to my chagrin, I could see that when I had cried to Reno on the phone, I had effectively cried right through my make-up. The underside of my eye was bare, the horrid bruise Vanitas had given me from his punch visible.

Visible for my mother to see and be disturbed by.

"How did you get that?" My mom had hung up her phone call and was standing next to me. "How did you get that?!"

I batted her hands away as she tried to cup my face. My phone was ringing in my pocket, most likely Reno, and I was starting to feel overwhelmed.

"_Eotteohke_?!" She was crying almost hysterically, following me as I went to retrieve my bag.

"It's _fine_, _oma_!" I finally screamed. "I accidentally got hurt at cheer, it's no big deal!"

"You called out sick from cheer this week, even though your competition is this weekend!" My mother wailed. "Who did this to you?"

"Nobody! Nobody did anything to me." I shook my head, my eyes filling with tears. It felt like my whole world was crashing down around me. I desperately wanted my mother to just leave it alone. I wanted her to stop asking questions that could get me in deep trouble with Vanitas.

So I turned and left the house, before I saw my mother completely break down. I loved her, even when I was mad, but she couldn't help me.

Nobody could.

_Starving artist, no match for a queen, _

_But walls come down and love's limitless_

_When you find what's meant to be. _

_Supernatural, it's more than what we see. _

_A trust that can't be broken seemed impossible to me,_

_But I've tasted true love and I believe! _

"Just go ahead and make yourself at home," Reno said, holding the front door open for me. "We just went grocery shopping, so there's plenty of food in the fridge. You look like you could use some."

I stood awkwardly in the entryway, keeping my eyes down. Sora was here. He was sitting on the couch with Axel, the two of them laughing at whatever movie they were watching. I think it was _Grandma's Boy_. He was looking gorgeous as usual, wearing a pair of black basketball shorts and a loose-fitting maroon V-neck. His familiar snapback hat was hanging jauntily off the top of the couchside lamp shade.

"Hey, Red," Sora said, tossing a handful of popcorn into his mouth. "What's up with you?"

"Hi," I said, the only smile I could muster for him being a twitch of the lips.

"You staying the night?" Axel asked, to which my response was a nod. His arms were crossed behind his head, his long, gangly legs stretched out on the ottoman in front of the couch. He was wearing a pair of grey sweatpants and no shirt, and his cheeks were shining where his under-eye diamond tattoos were located.

"Why is your face all shiny?" Reno asked, plopping himself down in-between Axel and Sora.

"I got my tattoos touched up," Axel said. "So I had to put some Aquaphor on them."

"You _do _realize that those are the gayest tattoos in all of existence, right?" Reno teased.

"Shut the fuck up, man," Axel said, removing one hand from the base of his neck to slap Reno on the back of his head. "First of all, gay isn't an insult, you homophobic ass napkin. Second of all, my tattoos are unique."

"Unique?" Sora spluttered. "Uniquely representing _what_?"

"Um, _duh_. The souls I've devoured." Axel made the shape of a gun out of his fingers and saluted Sora and Reno. "One of you might ben ext."

"Oh?" Reno raised his eyebrows. "And where would your next tattoo go? Under your chin?"

"Under my heart, dearest brother," Axel smirked. "Because you are _oh so _dear to me."

I interjected, finding the light-hearted jabbing to be a little grating on my nerves. It wasn't that I was unhappy at the fact that they were having fun, per se, it was just that I was in such low spirits that I honestly felt jealous. I was envious of their lighthearted moods.

"I'm gonna go take a shower," I muttered, heading for the bathroom.

"Wait!"

I stopped dead in my tracks. Sora was addressing me. I slowly turned to look at him. He was smiling again, and it was definitely making my knees weak . . . _Again_. I didn't know what he could possibly have to say to me, but I was anticipating hearing his words. Was he going to invite me to hang out with him? Was he going to offer to cook me something?

Maybe I just had an overactive imagination.

"Vani told me to tell you to call him," he said.

I covered up my dismay with another small smile. "Okay, I will."

His bright grin dimmed a bit as he peered at me. "That's a wicked shiner you got there."

"Huh?" I played coy. "Oh, I just got hurt at cheer practice."

"Someone elbow you in the face?" Reno asked around a mouthful of popcorn. "I knew them bitches was fierce."

"Uh . . . Yeah." I couldn't tear my eyes away from Sora's face. Perhaps it was just me, but it kinda sorta weirdly felt like we were having a _moment_. I felt like he knew exactly how I'd gotten the black eye, but . . . But that wasn't possible, right?

"Jesus," Axel cursed, leaning forward to squint his eyes at me across the living room. "That _does _look pretty bad. Just put some ice on it, and it should look less shitty in the morning."

"And you would know this _how_?" Reno retorted matter-of-factly.

Axel pointed to his tattoos. "My victims tried to fight back."

"Oh, my fucking God." Reno rolled his eyes. "You're ridiculous. Kairi, go take your shower."

Wordlessly, I turned and went to the bathroom.

After a relatively uneventful shower that was nearly an hour long due to the fact that I was staring at the wall and thinking about how close I'd come to letting my mother find out about my secret, I put on a pair of black yoga pants and a white tank top and began to brush my hair.

This time, when bits of hair came away in the brush, I wasn't shocked. I had already come to terms with the side effects of my restricting, deciding that it was necessary collateral. Sometimes, if you wanted something badly enough, you had to sacrifice the things you cherished. If that meant I lost some of my thick, lustrous hair, then so be it.

I stared at myself in the mirror, my wounded knuckles pulsating with a dull ache as if to remind me of what I had done to the mirror in my bedroom. I felt number this time, though. None of the burning hot self-hatred—just a faint twisting in my gut.

I lifted up the hem of my shirt and stared at my stomach. My cheerleading abs were going away, giving way to soft flesh covered with sporadic bruises of different colors. My ribcage hurt from where Vanitas had kicked me, but thankfully it wasn't enough to impede my breathing. I felt lucky to have come away from that particular beating with only a few bruises. Vanitas had been so angry that day . . . Angry enough to have done much worse.

I went back out into the living room and sat down in the armchair, listening to the boys mess around and talk about the movie. I felt like half of my body was on fire, and I could swear Sora kept looking at me. But that might have just been in my head.

I looked down at my phone and texted my friends for a bit. Most of them weren't bothered that I was missing the cheer competition, but Olette was _not _happy. Olette was technically captain of the team, and she didn't think I was really sick. Of course, I _wasn't _sick . . . Or at least, not in the way that I was claiming to be.

**Idc if ur sorry, Kairi,** Olette texted to me. **U knu how important this comp was to the team.**

** I kno, I kno. But I'm rly sick, I swear! **I replied. I hated lying in general, even if it was a white lie.

**Wutever. Ur probly just hanging out with ur bf, and u don't wanna cheer. Fine. Be a bitch like that.**

Her words lanced directly through my heart. I had never experienced what it felt like to have my friend be angry with me, let alone call me a foul name. I felt the sting of tears again, but I held them back. I was a fixer. I knew I could fix me and Olette, so I wasn't gonna cry about it.

**Olette, I'm really sorry, **I said, using proper punctuation so that she truly understood I was serious, as is the teenage way. **I will make it up to you, but I just am too sick to perform this weekend.**

** I dnt bleev u, Kairi. You're a fcking liar, and you always do this. U play the victim bc you want everyone to think ur better and prettier or wutever ur plan is, but idc.**

I got up and walked quickly to the bathroom, where I pointedly took a picture of my black eye. As much as it killed me to show my stomach, I took a picture of my bruised ribcage, too. I sent the pictures to her.

**I'm anemic, remember? I have been working out and practicing too much, and my mom says I have to take a break. I don't understand why you're saying all this stuff, but obviously you've been feeling it all for a long time.**

Her reply was to call me on the phone.

"What the Hell, Kairi?" she hissed. "Those bruises are awful! Are you sure it's because you're anemic?"

"Yeah," I said quietly. "But is that really important? Why did you say all that stuff to me? It was really mean."

"I know, I . . . I'm sorry. I just . . . I get really jealous of you, you know? You're perfect. You're thin and you're exotic because you're from Korea. You have the hottest guy in school as your boyfriend, you're the best flyer on the team, and you're probably gonna be Valedictorian. I guess I just lashed out . . ." Olette sounded sad.

"Olette . . ." I couldn't think of anything to say. I thought of myself in such a negative way that it was quite strange to hear people say otherwise. I sighed. "It's okay. I forgive you . . ."

"Really? Aw, thanks." Olette then said, "So you missed some drama at the last cheer practice."

"I did?" I turned to face the mirror again and before I knew it, I was body-checking again.

"Oh my gosh, _yeah_," Olette gushed. "So like, we were all working on the last half of the routine and Coach Lockheart was being a _toooootal _bitch, as usual, and like, Namine like, screams, y'know?"

"She screamed?" I turned to the left and right. How many inches was my waist? Last I checked, it was 22 inches around . . . It seemed like a big number to me.

"Yeah!" Olette seemed to be really interested in what she was telling me. "She like, screams and everyone drops her, and like, one of the guys pushed his thumb under her spankies and tried to touch her butthole!"

"_What_?" I said, listening to Olette's incredulous giggling. I knew what she was saying had the shock factor, but I was too absorbed in the way my collar bones danced and the stretch of my skin over muscle and bone.

"Someone literally tried to touch her fucking butthole! And no one wanted to fess up, and she's like, sobbing her eyes out in the locker room with all us girls while Coach is like, screaming at all the guys out on the mats. So she grabs her phone and calls her boyfriend up."

"Riku?" I turned and looked over my shoulder at my rear end in the mirror. Was it too big?

"Yep, and she's like crying to him, saying 'waah waaaah, somebody touched my buttttt' and he comes rushing inside."

"No way."

"Way. And we're in the locker room and we start hearing a bunch of noise, so all us girls go running out, and Riku's beating the living crap out of Renton!"

"Renton? Renton touched her butt?"

"Of course not! But Riku just picked the first person. Eureka was freaking out, trying to pull him off, and then amidst all the yingyang, fuckin' pervert Seymour steps forward and confesses."

"Did he get suspended?" I cupped one of my breasts, and frowned at how small they were. I'd never really looked at each of my individual body parts before, so it was pretty disheartening to notice that I had way more things wrong with my body than just my weight.

"Hell yes he did. He got benched for the rest of the season because apparently he did that to that girl Yuna last year. Coach almost didn't let him back on the team this time around. So now he's off for good."

"Good," I said. "I'm a flyer, and I wouldn't want him touching _my _butthole."

Olette giggled and said, "Me neither. But I'm not a flyer. Anyway, how are you and Vanitas?"

"Fine." I bent over and placed my feet together, looking for a thigh gap. I sighed. Didn't have one. I guessed it was because my hips were narrow and my thighs were athletic from cheer, but . . . I just needed to restrict some more, cut my daily intake by 50 calories. Maybe then a thigh gap would appear.

"Well, I wasn't gonna _teeell_ you, but . . . Some kids were talking in my fifth period Art class, and they were like, talking about you."

"About me?" Now, I was intrigued.

"Yeah! It was at the table next to mine," she explained. "I heard them talking, and one of the girls was like, saying that she thought she heard you and Vanitas arguing out behind the Library the other day. I thought it was weird, since Vanitas is usually so sweet to you."

My heart skipped a beat. "She . . . She heard us arguing?"

"Um, yeah. That's what I just said. She thought she heard your guys' voices, and was like, talking so much shit. Then everyone starts saying that Vanitas like, hits you and stuff. I told her to shut up, and said that Vanitas was way too nice."

". . . Yeah," I lied. "He's really kind to me."

"That' what I thought. I told them the bruises were anemic, and like, even though I don't know what day she was talking about, I just bluffed and said you were in class with me, and that it couldn't have been you and Vanitas."

"Thanks, Olette," I said, forcing a chipper tone to come to my voice. "That was really nice of you. But . . . I better get going."

"Oh? Where are you at?" she asked

"My brothers' new apartment."

"Oh, okay. I'll see you at school tomorrow?"

Tomorrow was Friday, a day of end-of-the-week quiz nightmares. I knew it was best to go and get those points toward my grade, but . . . Wouldn't it be easier to just sleep in and stay home?

"Maybe," I said. "I'm sick, remember?"

"Aw, all right. Have a good sleep!"

I said my goodnight, and then I pressed End Call on my cell phone screen. Frowning thoughtfully, I looked at my reflection one last time.

So someone _had _heard us arguing out there. But if they had heard . . . Why didn't anyone say anything? Why didn't anyone send someone to check it out? Were people so worried about minding their own business that they wouldn't deign to go out of their way to possibly save someone from being hurt?

Someone knocked on the bathroom door, and I opened it, expecting it to be one of my brothers, but to my surprise, it was neither of them.

"Hey," Sora said, grinning down at me. "So your brothers both had to go to bed because they have to work in the morning." 

"Oh . . ." I said, a little bemused as to why he was telling me this.

"I was just gonna sleep in the room that's supposed to be mine whenever I move in, so you can take the couch," he said.

"Mmkay," I replied with a nod.

"But uh . . ." He rubbed the back of his neck with his hands and then gestured to me (I noticed that Sora was the type to talk with his hands alot). "Did you wanna play some video games and hang out for a bit first?"

I blinked a couple times, astonished. Like, was this really happening right now? Was the guy I'd had a secret, far-away crush on for years _actually _asking me to play video games with him and hang out? I was so much of a bookworm that I was never an avid gamer, but for Sora, I would pretend. If he wanted me to play games, then I was going to stay up as late as he did, playing those damn games.

"Um, sure," I said softly, even though I was literally freaking out with excitement inside.

"Sweet," Sora said. "I'll just . . . Leave you to finish whatever it was you were doing, haha. I'll see you out there!"

I nodded and watched him go. I knew that if Vanitas knew I had stayed up late practically having a sleepover with his brother, he would literally hand my ass to me on a platter. And as much as that terrified me, I was confident that he wouldn't find out. I would just ask Sora nicely if he could keep it to himself that we hung out, and then Vanitas would never know. Problem solved.

I looked at myself in the mirror. My hair had dried in thick, loose silken waves, my bangs falling across my forehead and into my eyes. I bit my lower lip. I felt ugly, but the feelings of self-doubt were over-shadowed by the excitement. This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to hang out with my crush, and I was _not _going to pass it up.

I walked back out into the living room, where I could see Sora setting up the PS4. Or rather . . . Trying to.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I . . . Am so embarrassed, hahaha!" he laughed. "You'd think I could set up a damn console, but I have no idea what goes to what in these new TVs and shit. Wanna just watch a movie?"

I shrugged and sat down in the armchair. "Sounds good to me."

Sora sat down on the couch, on the side that was closest to me, and grabbed the remote. He pressed the Netflix button, and we commenced the most difficult part of navigating the app: selecting a film to watch.

"I always hate picking these out," he told me, slipping into our native Korean tongue. "It takes forever, and you end up scrolling back to the first movie you looked at."

"I know," I said back to him in Korean. I could feel myself starting to blush as I worried. Now that I was calm and sitting down, I was nervous. I only usually spoke Korean with my family members, so it was weird to use it with someone else. I guess it was easier, though, since English was our second language.

"What genre are you feeling?" he asked. "Comedy? Horror? Romance?"

"Um . . . Let's watch a scary movie," I suggested.

"Ooh, you like the scary shit?" He smiled a half smile that could only be described as sexy in my book, and continued to hold the remote out to the TV. He flicked down to the search bar and typed in a name. "Well, we're going to watch this movie that's literally freaking golden."

"Oh?"

"Have you ever seen any of the _Whispering Corridors _series?"

"_Anio_."

"Oh, well this one is the second one. They're stand-alone movies, so don't worry about missing anything or anything weird like that."

"Okay," I said. The movie was called _The Wishing Stairs_, and from the summary, it looked pretty interesting. So I settled back against the pillows, curled my legs up to my chest, and got ready to watch the movie. Though I couldn't really get _completely_ comfortable, not when I could practically _feel _Sora's presence in the room.

"So what the heck is your story?" Sora asked as the opening credits rolled.

I raised my eyebrows, as if I was surprised he was talking to me. Which I was. "My story? What do you mean?"

He laughed a little bit. "You sure zone out a lot."

"I really do," I said, unable to stop myself from giggling. "I . . . Well, I like to think my catch phrase is 'huh?'"

Sora said, "I can vouch for that. As long as I've known you, you've said that like, a bajillion times."

"Excellent math, Watson," I joked.

Sora laughed again and pointed at me. "You're funny. But no, seriously . . . What's your story? Like, tell me about you. We've known each other for so long, yet I don't really think I _know _you, y'know?"

I nodded, understanding what he was saying. "Well, there's not much to say, haha. Like, I'm in competitive cheerleading, I literally breathe school and grades, and I like to listen to Korean music."

"Ahhhh, you're a K-pop girl." He smirked. "Should have figured."

"Should have figured?" I looked at him in amusement. "Is it a bad thing?"

"Nah," he said, relaxing back into the couch cushions and looking at the TV. "I like to dance. And like I mean, like they do in the K-pop boy bands. That kinda dancing."

"Like hip-hop?"

"_Ne_," he replied. "Do you ever dance?"

"Well, yes," I said. "Competitive cheer is like, half stunting half dancing. So yes, I can dance."

"The question is . . ." He held up his pointer finger. "Do you _like _to dance?"

I gazed wistfully at the TV, seeing the actresses on the screen without really seeing them. Without really knowing it, Sora had just discovered my deepest secret.

I wanted to dance. If I had it my way, I would quit school and cheerleading so I could go to a performing arts school and dance for as long as my body allowed me to. Before I had gotten serious about school, I had watched every single dancing show that they had on TV religiously, pining for the feeling of the dancefloor beneath my toes.

"I love to dance," was all I said to him, "but my parents want me to focus on school and cheer. They say it's going to get me scholarships."

"But are those all that matter in life?" Sora asked, clasping his hands behind his head and gazing up at the ceiling. His brow was furrowed as he frowned. "Like, are scholarships and fucking grades and dumb shit all that _matter_? Sometimes I feel like the only reason why our parents want us to stay in school is because they've been brainwashed to think that school is the ticket to money, which is the ticket to happiness."

I stared at him, not having expected him to say so much. Luckily, I didn't need to say anything, because Sora looked at me and changed the subject.

"So what's up with you and my brother?"

My face screwed up in an expression of puzzlement. "Uh . . . What do you mean?"

"Like, you guys have been friends forever, and then all-of-a-sudden, you're dating?"

"Well, he asked me to be his girlfriend after I met your guys' cousin, Xion," I explained. "And I said yes."

"You met Xi?" Sora chuckled and shook his head. "She's a little firecracker. I'm sure you'll see her around."

"Yeah, she's pretty high-energy," I said. "She was nice, though."

"Anyway, sorry I asked, I was just wondering. He talks a bout you a lot."

I didn't say anything, and then Sora's and my eyes met for a moment. He held my gaze for two seconds, and then I took the liberty to ask him a question.

"So . . . How long have you been dancing?"

"Oh, I dunno . . . Since I was five? My mom put me in a tap-dancing class, and I switched to hip-hop when I turned eleven."

"You did tap for six years?" I was surprised. Tap dance for six years sounded like pure torture.

"_Ne_," he said. "And yes, it sucked as bad as you'd think it would. Seriously. Hip-hop is _waaaay _more my style."

"You look like you dance, to be honest," I said. "Your clothing style is really like . . . Stylish."

"Thanks," He said, reaching over to the lamp and grabbing his snapback. I stifled a gasp when he tossed t toward me and I caught it awkwardly in my lap. "Here, since you seemed to like it so much."

"I can have it?"

"_Anio_, but you can borrow it," he said, crossing his ankles on the ottoman, much like Axel had earlier that night. "You can give it back to me next time we hang out."

My cheeks flushed hotly. He wanted to hang out again? Or did he just mean next time we ran into each other? I didn't really care—he was letting me borrow his hat! I resisted the urge to put it on right then and there, not wanting to seem obsessed (even though I kinda was).

"Thanks," was all I said.

"You're welcome, ha," he said in a lazy drawl. "We are like, totally not even watching this movie."

"It's okay," I said, staring excitedly down at the hat. "I like talking to you, and even though I like scary movies, I'm actually really easily scared. Like, I'm scared of the dark."

In the silence afterward, I realized what I had said and my blushed deepened. I looked at him, tittering uncertainly.

"Haha, I like talking to you, too," he said, giving me that little half-grin. "You seem like a cool chick. And for the record, I'm kinda scared of the dark, too."

Feeling heartened by his positive response, I did the unthinkable.

"Maybe . . . Maybe we could dance together sometime?" I said hesitantly, fixing my gaze on the TV screen. My pulse was racing. I didn't know what he was going to say, and I had no idea why I was asking him such a thing. If Vanitas found out . . . It would be very, very, _very _bad.

"Sure," he said brightly. "That sounds rad. I actually teach a hip-hop class every day at five-thirty . . . I'll take you with me sometime, and then we can dance afterward."

"You teach a class?"

"Yep," he said, and his cobalt blue eyes twinkled. "It's for boys and girls ages 8-11. It can get stressful dealing with overbearing parents, but otherwise, it's fun. And it's how I make money."

"That's really . . . That's really awesome, Sora," I said honestly. "I wish I had the guts to teach a class of students."

Sora smiled. "It doesn't take much guts, but thanks anyway. I want to like, run my own dance studio someday. One that's free for anyone to come, and isn't all competitive and shit. Someday . . ."

I looked down and hid my smile. Who would have thought that I'd get to hang out with my crush _and _hear him tell me about one of his goals in life? This was like a dream come true for me, as embarrassing as it was to think about the fact that Sora would probably be creeped out if he knew how much I liked him without ever really getting to know him before this.

For some reason, we no longer felt the need to talk, and we watched the rest of the movie in silence. I dozed off and woken up multiple times, the faint scent of Sora's cologne wafting over to fill my nostrils pleasantly. The movie was punctuated with eerie music and screams every so often, but I was too sleepy to pay attention. Every time I closed my eyes, I had little dreams of Sora, and I liked it. It was a nice reprieve, not having nightmares about Vanitas hurting me or raping me or killing me.

The credits rolled, and I was literally about 75 percent asleep on my side in the chair, facing outward. I vaguely saw and heard Sora moving about, turning off the TV, then the lamp, and plunging us into darkness. I heard some rustling, a thumping noise, Sora's exclamation of "Fuck," and then I heard a door open and shut. Assuming Sora had gone to his still-empty room, as he had yet to move in officially, I curled in tighter on myself and tried not to shiver. I had never had any issues with my body temperature, but lately, since I had been restricting so much . . . Well, I was always freezing cold.

A moment later, I felt something flutter, a slight breeze, and then warmth engulfed me. I held my breath. So it was the _closet_ door that I had heard opening and shutting, and Sora had just gotten me a blanket. I felt his fingers deftly tucking in the edges of the blanket, effectively "tucking me in," and I tried not to squeal aloud in girlish glee.

"G'night, fellow dancer," I heard Sora whisper, before hearing the cushions on the couch creak as he, too, laid down to rest.

A smile as bright as the sun spread across my face, filling me with glee from the inside out, as comprehension dawned on me. Sora was sleeping on the couch. If it was because of the fact that we had both revealed our fear of the dark, I didn't know, but I certainly wasn't complaining. It felt nice and calming to think that maybe, just maybe, Sora had elected to sleep on the couch because of me, and not because of some other reason. I clutched his hat close, as if it were the key to dreaming about him.

Despite the trauma it had caused my mother, I was glad I'd chosen to stay the night in my brothers' apartment.

_For a moment, _

_I'm a poet without words, _

_Speechless because you love me at my worst. _

_I don't deserve this. _

_I let it surface and all I know is _

_Today I woke up falling in love again._

**xxx **

**Author's Note: All righty, so a nice long chapter! I hate how short my chapters always are, plus I needed some relationship and friendship development. Thank you to my reviewers and readers, and can someone please explain to me what the difference between Hits and Visitors on the ffnet Traffic section? I've never understood the difference, lol. Anyway, thanks to all the Hits and Visitors, too! Anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter! The next chapter, I will forewarn you now, is where the story will be going up to an M rating. It will also be highly sensitive and triggering content, but it will also be the only scene of its kind that will be descriptive. Just letting you all know~ Until next time!**

**Credits for some of the plot ideas go to my bestie, sorasqueenb~**

**She is my muse, my flame.**


	7. Thievery

**Title: Tears on the Runway**

**Summary: Best friends aren't supposed to hurt you. Best friends are supposed to be there for you, care about you, and love you. What do you do when your best friend starts to twist the meaning of friendship into something much darker and more twisted? With every bruise, Kairi hopes she can fix him. But some people are too monstrous to be fixed. Can she be saved before he goes too far? SxK ; VxK**

*****Warnings***: This chapter has some EXTREMELY sensitive sexual content at the end, and also some very FOUL language. It will make you cringe, and it is RAW. I have upped the rating to M because of this. If you are triggered by this content, please do not put yourself in a compromising position just to read what I wrote. For those of you who want to skip it, it's at the end of the chapter. Basically, just stop at the part where Vanitas asks Kairi to come with him. You'll understand what I mean. Anyway, there is also drug use in this chapter as well.**

**Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me, and belong entirely to Square-Enix and Tetsuya Nomura. The Tales of Graces characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco-Bandai. The only thing that belongs to me is the events of the plot, and how I have arranged them. Also, the wikiHow article that I referenced in this chapter is a real article that does not belong to me, if you search the words Kairi wrote when she typed it in on the goog, it is the second article that comes up.**

**Be forewarned, the Tales of Graces characters are really OOC, lol.**

**Song Used in this Chapter: '**_**Ice Queen' **_**by Within Temptation.**

**xxx**

_When leaves have fallen_

_And skies turn to grey,_

_The night keeps on closing in on the day._

_A nightingale sings his song of farewell._

_You better hide for her freezing hell._

Sometime in the late morning, I finally got around to waking up. The first thought on my mind was the fact that I was totally regretting sleeping curled up in an armchair, and my second thought was, '_Crap_, I missed school.' I sat up quickly, my crimson hair a mess about my heart-shaped face, and looked over at the couch. Sora was sitting there, texting furiously on his cell phone.

"Morning, sleepyhead," he greeted.

"Hi," I said, yawning. I stumbled to the bathroom, worried that I looked awful, and prepared to cycle through my morning activities. I still couldn't quite believe what had happened last night, I felt like I was floating on Cloud 9. It almost felt like it was a miracle, the fact that I'd finally gotten the chance to get to know Sora a little bit. And he was sitting out there in my brothers' living room, obviously having skipped school. Was it to hang out with me, perhaps? Or just because we had both stayed up late and as a result, both slept in?

I reached into the make-up bag that I had brought and started my routine, wincing in pain as the foundation-covered sponge touched my tender, bruised flesh. Sometimes it felt like I was directly touching a gaping wound, and it made my eyes tear up. After I was satisfied with my cover-up job, I dusted on some powder and blush, ran a brush through my impossibly long hair, and then headed back out to the living room to get some clothes to wear.

"Hey," Sora said, sounding like he was trying to get my attention.

Half bent over my duffel bag, I looked at him with a raised brow. "Hm?"

"My friends are meeting up at Denny's for lunch," he told me. "Did you . . . Did you maybe wanna tag along?"

I blushed, feeling flattered and somewhat special. Was this my lucky day, or something? I'd practically slept next to Sora all night, he'd lent me his snapback, we'd made plans to dance sometime, _and _now he wanted me to come to lunch with his friends?

"Aren't your friends at school, though?" I asked before giggling a bit. "The school that we apparently skipped, haha!"

"No, these are some college friends I have. I met them when my dad took me to tour the college campus," he explained. "They're pretty chill."

"Okay," I said brightly. "I'm just gonna change real quick, and then I should be ready."

"Sounds good," he said, and then got up to make a phone call in the kitchen.

I pranced back to the bathroom, feeling a spring in my step that I hadn't ever felt before. I didn't want to think about the fact that I had a boyfriend with a horrible temper and a vicious way of handling his anger, so I simply didn't. I was going to enjoy my day, and if Vanitas called me, then I was going to ignore it. Where Sora was concerned, I didn't care what Vanitas wanted.

I knew I was making a mistake, but at the moment, I didn't exactly care.

Slipping into a pair of low-rise skinny jeans with a dark wash and a long-sleeved off-the-shoulder pink top, I checked myself in the mirror one last time. Simple, but cute. The first time I actually felt good about myself in weeks. I brushed my bangs behind my ears and headed out to the living room to put my combat boots on.

"We're meeting them in like, a half-an-hour," Sora said as he re-entered the living room. He was wearing a pair of light wash skinny jeans cut off at the knees and a white band tee shirt with the words '_Suicide Silence' _splashed across the chest in black (it was a band that I personally did not listen to, but I knew that Vanitas listened to them a lot). He went to the couch and grabbed the hat he'd let me borrow before walking over to where I was at the front door.

I held my breath as he placed the hat on the back of my head at a jaunty angle, the bill sticking up. I smiled up at him.

"Cool," I said. I felt a bit intimidated . . . Sora was so tall, he made me feel small. Which was a good thing, since around Vanitas, I felt like I took up way too much space.

"So, uh . . . Shall we?" He opened the front door.

I nodded once, and then we headed out.

_When she embraces, your heart turns to stone._

_She comes at night when you're all alone,_

_And when she whispers, "Your blood shall run cold."_

_You better hide before she finds you._

It soon became clear that Sora's friends weren't exactly the type your mother would want you around because as soon as we got to the restaurant, Sora led me around to the alleyway behind it to where they were all standing.

Smoking weed.

I tried not to cough, not wanting to seem like a loser, and stood quietly next to Sora as introductions were made.

There were two boys and two girls, and they all looked unfazed by my presence. The boys were shorter than Sora, but as handsome as can be, and the girls were drop dead gorgeous. My eyes roved up the length of their thin legs, flat stomachs, small arms, and perfectly sculpted facial structures. I felt jealousy and a desire to lose weight, as if I didn't already feel that way every damn day. I averted my eyes back to the boys, unable to gaze upon the pretty girls any longer.

"What's up, Sora?" One of the boys greeted Sora with a sideways fist bump. He was holding a marijuana-filled pipe up to his mouth while one of the girls clung to his hip and lit it for him.

"Nothin', man," Sora said, his voice changing to a lazy, Devil-may-care drawl. He leaned against the brick wall and gestured to me. "Guys, this is my brother's girlfriend, Kairi."

The second boy raised his eyebrows. "Hanging out with your brother's girlfriend? Dangerous."

"Hello," I said awkwardly. I felt like the girls were giving me snooty looks, but I supposed it was just my imagination.

"'Sup, girl?" The first guy nodded to me. He had messy longish crimson hair and bright blue eyes. "I'm Asbel."

The girl on his side had vibrant pink hair that was slightly bushy and half up in two ponytails. She gave me a small smile. "I'm Cheria. It's nice to meetcha."

The other boy had sultry grayish-cyan eyes hidden behind a pair of narrow, rimless glasses, but he was dressed stylishly to match his electric blue cropped hair. "I'm Hubert, and this is Pascal."

The second girl saluted me, her short, messy hair dyed bright white on top and blood-red on the bottom. She had an eclectic style, and seemed very sprightly. She said something in French, to which Cheria chided her for.

"Ignore her," Cheria told me. "She was an exchange student who decided to stay here, and she doesn't seem to remember that nobody here speaks French."

"Hey!" Pascal cried, her accented voice whiny and high-pitched. "I do it on accident—it just slips out!"

"Yeah, yeah," Hubert said, rolling his eyes. "I'm sure that out of the ninety percent of the day, it's an accident."

"Oh, shut up, you!" Pascal threw her arms around his neck from behind and hung on him, causing him to stumble around while they argued playfully. I stifled a giggle. I guess the girls didn't seem all that snooty . . .

"Let me get a hit of that," Sora said, taking the pipe from Asbel and holding it up to his lips.

I watched in muted fascination as Sora lit the pipe and inhaled deeply, as if it were no big deal. I had no idea what it was like to smoke, nor to do any drugs at all. I was a goody-goody. School and cheer were the basics of my life, and besides nightly family dinners, that's all I really knew. No experimentation, no alcohol, no partying, and my first kiss was almost stolen by the boyfriend I didn't even really like. So honestly, I felt like I was rebelling and breaking a lot of rules just by watching Sora do it.

"Want some?" he said after blowing the smoke to the side.

Wordlessly, I shook my head. It was more darkly thrilling to watch than to partake. I listened to Sora laugh and joke with his friends for a while, my eyes continuously studying Cheria and Pascal's bodies to the point that it was a bit creepy. Cheria was of average height with perfect, stick thin legs and a thigh gap to die for. Her smile was gentle when she looked at Asbel, and devilish when she looked at anyone else. Pascal was short, but not as short as me, and I was most envious of the way her sharp hipbones jutted out through her tight V-neck. Every time she lifted her arms to mess with Hubert's face or hair, I could see the prominent stud of her spine at her lower back. I felt my stomach clench in yearning—I wanted to be so painfully thin that you could see my bones like that. Like a delicate lily flower, drifting along the surface of a gentle pond.

Just then, my cell phone began to vibrate in my pocket. Upon seeing that it was Vanitas calling, I ignored it. There was no way I was going to let him ruin my time.

At least, not right now . . .

We all went into the restaurant, everyone but me with excessive laughter and red-rimmed eyes, and got seated in a round booth. The waitress offered to bring us drinks and pointed out where the menus were at the table, her smile bright enough to light up the whole room. I was seated in-between Sora and Pascal, and while I was stoked to be next to my crush, I was also tense. I could feel the heat of Pascal beside me, and I awkwardly wondered if I would get thinner just by sitting next to her.

"So what's everyone feeling like getting?" Asbel asked, looking around at the table full of stoned teenagers.

"I'm not that hungry," Cheria said in her soft voice, looking down at the menu. "Maybe just a couple eggs and one piece of French toast."

"I'm gonna get literally, a huge stack of pancakes," Asbel laughed. "I am _so _fuckin' blazed."

"Same. Literally same," Sora chuckled, and the two of them fell about laughing like idiots.

Pascal tilted her head up at Hubert. "Huby, buy me some hash browns and eggs."

"Huby?" He pushed his glasses up his nose and looked down at Pascal as though she had sprouted two heads. "What makes you think I've got the money for you, too, leech?"

Pascal made kissy faces until Hubert conceded, and I felt awful for even thinking of getting more food than the girls.

"Get whatever you want," Sora said lowly to me, nudging me in the side.

I flushed and stared up at him in shock. "Oh, my . . . No way. I couldn't . . . I couldn't take your money . . ."

"Nah, it's no big deal," he said with a wrinkle of his nose in only the attractive way he could do such a thing. "I got it."

"You sure?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. I couldn't help but smile a little bit. Even if there was no way I was going to eat very much, it was still nice of him to offer. Not to mention, it made it feel like this was kinda sorta a hang-out date.

He smiled and nodded. "Yeah."

I could swear the way he was looking at me was anything but a "brother of my boyfriend" way.

"I guess . . . I guess I'll get an . . ." I had a momentary panic attack in my mind as I pored over the menu items. I looked at it for so long that everyone just started talking again, as if I wasn't really there. Which was fine with me, of course, since I didn't want the pressure of having to choose food while everyone was waiting for me.

The waitress soon came back to take our orders, and I found that I was feeling increasingly distressed by the moment. Everyone was ordering their food lightning quick, and I was still staring at the low calorie menu, trying to be discreet and not freak out. She passed over me twice because I was still deciding, until finally, she could pass over me no more. I stared at her, speechless and embarrassed.

"I told you," Sora said gently. "It's okay—order whatever you want."

"Um . . ." I gulped. "I'll have some egg whites."

"Only egg whites?" The waitress looked surprised. "You didn't want anything to go with it? Maybe a couple slices of bacon, or an English muffin?"

I shook my head, feeling a bit nervous now that everyone's eyes were on me. I felt triumphant—I had ordered less than the other girls, and egg whites had 17 calories per egg.

"Okay, how do you like your eggs?" the waitress asked.

"Scrambled," I said quietly. I could feel Sora looking at me, his arms crossed on the table as he leaned forward.

"Very good." The waitress smiled. "I'll go put your orders in."

"Thank you!" Asbel said as she walked off. Then, he turned and started talking to Hubert about some computer game.

"You sure you're not hungry for more?" Sora asked me, looking concerned.

"Yeah," I said, fixing on a shy smile. "I don't usually eat breakfast."

"Don't eat breakfast?!" Hubert cried, having overheard me. "You're delusional! Breakfast is the most important meal of the day."

Cheria rolled her eyes. "There you go again with the know-it-all facts, Hubert."

"I am _not_ a know-it-all," Hubert huffed, leaning back in his seat and putting his arm around Pascal. "I simply state what I know."

Asbel, Pascal, Cheria, Sora and even I burst out laughing at Hubert's statement.

"Hubert?" Asbel said, still chuckling. "Stating what you know _is _being a know-it-all."

"Whatever!" Hubert said. "In any case, you should really think about eating breakfast more often. Are you active?"

"Yes," I stuttered, a bit taken aback at being directly addressed by one of Sora's friends. They were older than me, so I kinda felt like I was hanging with the "cool kids."

"She's in competitive cheerleading," Sora said, taking a sip of his orange juice. "She flies around and does crazy flips and shit."

"Really?" Pascal's eyes lit up. "I was in competitive cheer back in France!"

"They do cheerleading in France?" Hubert asked, making a weird face.

"Yeah!" Pascal grinned at me. "It's kind-of underground, and competitions were small, but I did it for eight years. How long have you been doing it?"

"As long as I can remember," I said, happy that I had something in common with one of the girls. It helped me cope with the feelings of envy I was experiencing.

"Cheerleading is _not _a sport," Asbel remarked incredulously. "Are you kidding me?"

I stared at him. If Olette heard him say that, man, he'd be in some deep trouble.

"It is, too!" Pascal retorted before cursing at him in French.

"How is a bunch of girls doing somersaults in tiny skirts considered a _sport_?" he spluttered.

"It takes a lot of fuckin' core strength and gymnastics," Sora explained. "Which, gymnastics is an Olympic sport, so . . ."

"So you like, go to competitions for this shit?" Asbel asked. "Like, it's like thousands of hot girls doing cartwheels and dancing?"

Cheria slapped him on the arm. "You pervert."

"Whaaaat? I'm just asking questions, Cherr."

"We practice twice a week and go to competitions two or three times a month leading up to Nationals," I explained before taking a sip of my ice water. "But essentially, it pretty much is hot girls dancing and doing cartwheels."

Everyone laughed, and I smiled brightly. Even Sora was laughing at my comment. I felt accepted.

The waitress brought our food, and my feelings of happiness melted away. The plate was small, making the egg whites look more abundant than they actually were. The waitress informed me that she had asked the cook to give me four egg whites, but that she wasn't charging extra, and it took every bit of strength I had inside of me to keep myself from crying.

Four was just too many. Four was 17 times four, and that was 68 calories, and my entire day's net worth was set to be 300 calories. That meant that breakfast was going to take out one-third of my daily allowance, and I needed to eat six times a day if I was going to keep my metabolism going so I could shed the pounds. Which meant that my plan was usually to eat 50 calories per small meal, and these four egg whites were going to screw everything up! I would have just eaten half of the portion, but then that would be rude to Sora, who was paying for it.

_'Aissh,' _I thought anxiously, my fingers aching from how tightly I was holding my fork. '_Eohttohke, eohttohke_?'

During this entire inner monologue, everybody else had been happily munching away at their food whilst talking amongst themselves. Sora was saying something to me, and I just barely managed to catch the tail end of it in time.

". . . I don't know if you really play video games much or not, but judging by how the last _Skyrim _game was, the sequel looks pretty good."

I did not, in fact, play computer games, or any other games besides _Pokemon_, but I nodded nonetheless. "Yeah," I said, slowly bringing the first bite to my mouth. It tasted bland. Bland and full of fat.

"I really want to get it, but like, I don't wanna just download it, you know?" He swallowed a mouthful of syrupy French toast. "Like, I actually want the disk. But I need a new computer if I'm going to really get into it. My Macbook just isn't gonna cut it."

"Yeah." Another bite.

"I was thinking of checking Best Buy and some of the other stores this weekend," Sora continued. "I want a desk top this time. A real desk top, like with a huge monitor and a tower. Desktop computers are waaaaay better computers. But like, it's really hard to find everything I want in one for a good price. Really nice gaming computers are thousands of dollars."

"Yeah." One more bite, and I felt nauseous. I didn't want this food inside of me. It felt like a parasite; like it was making me grow fatter by the second. Only three bites in, and I was already wanting to stop.

"Do you know much about computers? Maybe you could come with me this weekend and help me pick one out. Just like, for fun." He inhaled some more food. "Like, as friends."

I paused with the fourth bite of my egg whites frozen near my mouth. I stared at him. He wanted to . . . To hang out? As friends? This was crazy, but in a good way. One day, I was secretly dreaming of him as some unknown creature, and now, I was sitting in Denny's with him, and he was making plans as though it were nothing.

It was just a shame that Vanitas would never allow such a thing, and if I avoided him any longer, Vanitas would behead me.

"I . . . Can't," I said with a guilty expression on my face.

Sora pouted. "Aww, why not?"

I quickly tried to save face. "Well, it's just that I don't know anything about computers, is all. I don't think I'd be much help."

"Well, why don't you come with me anyway? It'll be fun. We'll just be hanging out."

I was tempted. Sorely tempted. But I knew better. What I was doing right now, well that was playing with fire quite enough. Especially since I had plans to dance at Sora's studio sometime next week. If Vanitas found out I was just "hanging out" with his brother, he'd lose his temper and hurt me—badly.

I just smiled at Sora and shook my head. "I'll definitely see you for when we dance, though."

Sora looked genuinely disappointed, and it made me feel bad for telling him no. I wanted to hang out with him more, I really did, but . . . Vanitas . . .

"Well, here," he said in a suggesting tone. "How about we just exchange numbers? That way, if you change your mind, I can come pick you up."

I worried my lower lip between my teeth. I couldn't pass it up. Texting Sora was harmless. If it wasn't, Sora would be suggesting it. After all, Sora seemed like a really good guy. He wouldn't do anything horrible to hurt his brother.

Not that I was thinking Sora liked me, or anything . . . Because that would be way too much lucky for one day.

Right?

So we exchanged numbers, and after we did, the others announced that they were either finished or full, and it was time to get the check. Quickly, I wiped my face with a napkin and set it on my plate, covering the remainder of the eggs I had left before anyone could see (though I thought I saw Cheria giving me a narrow-eyed look, but I think I was imagining it), and felt relieved at not having to finish it. The waitress brought the check, the boys paid, and then we climbed out of the booth. Once outside, Pascal asked me for my Facebook so she could come watch one of my cheer practices sometime, and then we all went our separate ways.

At Sora's Mazda, we got inside and buckled up, and then Sora froze with the keys in the ignition.

"_Mweo_?" I asked, looking up from Facebook on my phone. "What's wrong?"

He sighed. "This is ridiculous. Like, really ridiculous, but . . . And I didn't even want to ask you this, but, Axel is pretty much forcing me to . . ."

I frowned. "Ask me what?"

"Well . . ." He sighed again and looked me directly in the eyes. His vibrant cobalt irises were so unsettling when they looked right at me that I lost my breath. Sometimes I forgot how handsome he was. "Axel wanted me to ask you if . . . Anything was going on with you and my brother."

"What do you mean?" I asked, my voice catching. I hoped he wasn't asking what I thought he was asking, and if he was, I really wished he wasn't. I didn't want anyone to know what was going on. Not until I found a way to fix it and make it better.

"Like . . . Are you and my brother . . . Fighting?" The last word came out a little clumsily, and he scratched the back of his neck as if to punctuate it.

"_Mweo_?! I acted affronted. "_Anio_! Why would he think that? My brother is so stupid sometimes, _aissh_."

Sora studied my face with unbridled concern for a moment before he cracked a smile. "That's good to hear. Axel was just worried because of your bruises. He said you were anemic, but that he just wanted to make sure that's all it was. Anyway, let's get you back to the apartment."

As we drove, I pretended to be completely absorbed by my phone while Sora listened to some Korean pop music that he said he wanted to learn the dances to. He sang along with the songs mostly, not really seeming perturbed by my quietness. But I wasn't really look at Facebook. In fact, I was looking at my text messages from Vanitas. They were numerous, vulgar, and just plain abusive.

**Y r u ignoring me? I thot u liked me . . .**

** U kno I hate when u ignore me, and now ur not at school? R u avoiding me? I told u I was sry for wut I did at the Library . . .**

** K, I've called u like ten times now. Where r u?**

** If ur avoiding me, bitch, ur gonna regret it.**

** Fuck u. I kno ur fucking ignoring me. I'm gonna beat ur ass if u dnt answer my calls. U fat bitch.**

** I'm coming to ur house after school, and if ur not there, next time I c u, ur dead, slut.**

Hands shaking, I tapped out a reply to him.

**Sorry, I've been sick**_**, **_I told him. **And u rly scared me last time . . .**

It took a minute for him to reply, and I stared out the window while I waited. I was crying silently, but thankfully Sora didn't notice. I hated that Vanitas called me names, but I hated it even more when I made him angry. It spelled out bad news for me, the fat slut bitch, as he so kindly told me I was. My phone vibrated, indicating that he had replied.

**Oh, so now u answer me? I already got a text from Sora. He says ur w him. R u cheating?**

** No! I wud never, Ani . . . He just wanted me to meet his friends.**

** Meet his frenz? Y wud u need to meet my twin's frenz? U rly r a slut.**

I bit my lip as hard as I could. I was only making things worse . . . God damn, why did Sora have to tell Vanitas I was with him? Not that he could possibly have know what would happen, but still . . .

**I'm sry, I'm so sry. I was just hungry, and he offered . . .**

** Hungry as usual, fatty pig. Normally I'd just breaku being a cheating whore, but I dnt want u 2 get away with it.**

** ? **I replied, confused and scared.

**I'll pick u up tonite, after ur parents r asleep. Think bout wut uve done, and how badly uve hurt me. U need 2 make it up 2 me.**

** Okay, Ani . . .**

I regained my composure quickly as we pulled into the apartment complex and started weaving our way to Axel and Reno's visitor parking spot. I jumped with fright as Sora reached over and adjusted is hat on my head.

"It was falling off," he said before unbuckling his belt and getting out.

"Thanks for breakfast," I said honestly as we walked up the stairs and went inside.

"Hah, no prob." He shut the door behind us. "Axel and Reno'd be sooo pissed if they knew we left the front door unlocked whiel they were gone."

"Whoopsie," I said, trying to put on the face of someone who wasn't about to pee their pants from fear. All I could think about was Vanitas's ominous text message. What was he going to do to me? How would he punish me for this? This was worse than anything I'd ever done.

I tried to sit down on the armchair, but found that I was too antsy. I got up and went into the kitchen to clean it up, finding that losing myself in the rhythm of cleaning was a bit helpful. The only problem was that once everything was clean, my fears and stress came crashing back down on me. I sat down at the kitchen table, out of Sora's sight, and put my head in my hands for a minute.

What was I going to do? There was no way out of this situation. None whatsoever. My mother and father weren't going to allow me to stay at my brothers' another night, especially with how much trouble I was probably in with them for my temper tantrum yesterday (as my mother had no doubt told him _all _about it). Vanitas knew exactly how to get in my room at night, even though he'd never actually done it before.

But the real question was . . . What was he going to do once he got into my room? Was he going to beat me? Was he going to strangle me or put a pillow over my face? Was he going to stab me, or cut me in places that wouldn't kill me just to torture me? Or was he going to threaten me? I just had no idea. Maybe I was too innocent, or just naïve, but I was petrified.

"What are you doing in here, Kairi?"

I looked up at the sound of Sora's voice. He was leaning into the kitchen, one hand on the edge of the doorway to keep himself for toppling over. He looked worried.

"I have a headache," I lied. "I was just waiting for it to pass."

"Oh . . ." he answered. "Well, are you okay?"

"Yeah," I said, flashing him a smile. "I'm okay. Thank you."

"All right, well . . . Just let me know if you need me to run to the store and get you anything."

I blinked. Wow. Sora was actually . . . Actually a really sweet guy.

"Okay, thank you."

He nodded a bit and then walked back into the living room to keep watching TV.

I sighed heavily and hung my head in my palms again. My eyes still hurt, and numerous bruises on my body still felt fresh. Could I handle more bruises from Vanitas? What if he broke one of my bones, or worse? If he put me in the hospital and anyone found out, he'd go to jail and never get the help he really needed. I knew it wasn't my responsibility to fix him by default, but I wanted to _make _it my responsibility. I remembered how great of a friend Vanitas used to be, before he started to change . . .

I remembered what their cousin Xion had told me in the hallway, and I took out my phone to do some research. She had said that Vanitas had Borderline Personality Disorder. I didn't know very much about it, but maybe there was a few things online that could help me with dealing with Vanitas?

I typed in the first thing I could think of that made sense to my situation.

'_How to deal with Borderling Personality Disorder in a Relationship.'_

I picked the second one, a wikiHow article with four ways to deal with someone who was afflicted. The first part was about understanding the disease, which had a small list of traits such as fear of abandonment, narcissism, and mood swings—all things that reminded me of Vanitas. The second part talked about knowing where BPD came from, and I learned that it was inherent in some, and usually was classified as something else for men, but there was no word for it in the article. The rest of it just highlighted things having to do with medical help and therapy, but overall, I felt like I had a good understanding for now.

I didn't think I was ready to say anything to Vanitas about it just yet, though. I needed to do some more research. I wanted to make completely sure that I knew what I was talking about before I tried to sit him down and talk to him about getting help. I sighed heavily and set my phone down. I placed my elbow on the table and rested my chin in my hand, gazing out the balcony window.

What would my parents say if they knew what was going on? All they seemed to care about lately was the fact that my grades were bad, and it was going to make my fathers run for Senate look bad if anyone found out how poor I was academically. I still saw paparazzi around our house daily, but they had yet to find out anything about our family. You'd think they'd have _something_ by now, though . . . Oh, well.

My phone began to ring.

'_Speak of the Devil . . ._' I thought, pressing the answer button on the screen.

"_Appa, yeoboseyo,_" I said in as respectful a tone as I could muster, and then I prepared to be scolded.

"Where have you been, young lady?" he was yelling in Korean. "Your mother and I have been worried _sick_! First she says you destroyed your mirror and cut your hand, and then you yelled at her, and then you stormed out to go stay at your brothers'? Unacceptable! Your grades are abhorrent—I spoke to the school and they said you didn't even show up today, either. You skipped a cheer practice and your competition is tomorrow, and I hear that you're skipping that, too? How could you do this to us, to our family? How could you embarrass us? You _know _I'm running for Senator. You _know _what's going on, and yet you choose to act like you do not? Well? Do you have an explanation?"

"_Mianhaeyo_," was all I could manage to whisper through my tears.

"That's all you say? You're sorry?" He scowled. "Get home immediately, and when you do, go straight to your room to work on your missing assignments. You are grounded to the house for the entire weekend, and I expect to see that you've turned n every single one on Monday, or else you're grounded for the rest of the quarter. I don't want to hear about anymore of this childish nonsense—your mother can't bear it, and neither can I."

He hung up, and I couldn't hold it back anymore. I started to cry, covering my mouth with one hand as the soft sobs left my mouth. I hated upsetting and disappointing my parents. I knew I shouldn't have treated my mother like that, but she could just be so _overbearing _sometimes.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Somehow, Sora had snuck into the dining room without me noticing, and now he was sitting down in the chair across from me at the small, round table. His eyes washed over my face, my tears, my reddened eyes . . . He looked like he was genuinely concerned for my well-being, and I had never experienced such a thing.

I wiped my eyes hurriedly and tried to smile, though my lips quivered.

"Just school stuff, and my parents," I informed him, though it was only half the truth.

"Aw, that's shitty," he said. "Wanna talk about it?"

I shook my head. "That's really nice of you, but no . . . It's all right. I . . . I think I need a ride home, though."

He nodded in understanding. "My parents get on me about grades and graduation, too, so . . . I get it. I'll take you home, though."

I smiled briefly in thanks, and then went to gather my things.

_On cold wings, she's coming._

_You better keep moving,_

_For warmth you'll be longing, nightingale._

_Come on, just feel it._

_Don't you see it?_

_You better believe it._

Nightfall came sooner than expected, and with it came all the stress, trepidation, and fear. I had been berated by both of my parents as soon as I had gotten home: my mother at the front door, and then later at the dinner table when my father came home. Luckily, my crying had given me an alibi for not wanting to eat, so they'd told me to just back upstairs and keep working on homework. My stomach remained empty, the only thing I'd eaten all day being the three bites of egg whites at Denny's.

And I _had _been working on homework. All day. It had taken me three hours just to finish all the missing assignments I had for AP English, and I still hadn't started on my AP History, my Trigonometry, my Economics, _or _my AP Anatomy assignments. My head was pounding in agony, and my vision was blurring from pure tiredness. Still, it did feel kind of good to throw myself back into schoolwork and not think about all my other troubles, at least for a little while.

But now that I was done and it was time to brush my teeth and do my nightly weigh-ins, there were no more walls, and all I could think about was Vanitas. He had texted me once to ask if my parents were asleep yet, and they were, so now he was on his way. I had picked out the baggiest pajamas I had, so that he couldn't see my body and make comments on my weight. I didn't think I could bear it.

I brushed my teeth slowly and watched myself in the mirror. Why did it feel like these were my last moments? Was I really spending my possible last moments brushing my damn teeth?

I began to wash my face as gently as I possibly could, careful not to hurt my bruised eye socket. Was I going to receive more bruises tonight? I sighed. I had a feeling that tonight was going to be one of the worse ones.

Trudging back to my bedroom, I closed the door and locked it. Then, I went to my closet to weigh myself, expecting the number to be bigger due to the eggs I had eaten.

_101._

I frowned. I was . . . Disappointed. I placed my hand flat on my stomach beneath my over-sized shirt. I felt nothing but mounds and mounds of fat, piling in folds on my bones. Bones that I yearned to see, to feel and touch. Vanitas had called me fat, and he was right. I was failing.

I left my closet in a hurry, as if closing the door on a monster, and ran to turn off my bedroom light. I dashed over to my bed, leapt into it, and bundled myself in the blankets. I faced away from my window and curled up to wait.

Fifteen minutes later, as I was just about to doze off, I heard a gentle tapping at my window. I turned over and saw the top half of Vanitas outside. As fast as I could, I rushed over and slid the glass up.

"Long time no see," he said, smirking deeply. His eyes were piercing, even in the darkness.

I felt unsettled. Why wasn't he asking or trying to come in?

"I'm sorry, Ani," I whispered in a rush. "I swear, I didn't mean to make you mad . . . I promise, I—"

His smile grew wider, and it was eerie the way that it didn't reach his eyes. Behind him, I could see that the night was still with not a single cricket chirping nor breeze blowing through the island's palm trees.

"Come out to my car with me—I wanna take you somewhere," he said.

"Come with you . . . ? Ani, it's almost eleven! What if my parents wake up and find me gone?" I asked, feeling scared.

"Fine," he said. "I'll come in there. But I've got to go back to my car and get something."

Pale-faced, I nodded and watched him climb back down the rain gutter. He ran across the street to his car and grabbed something out of the passenger's side. It was a bottle of something, rectangular, and didn't look like water. I clasped my hands at my chest, worriedly wringing them.

Vanitas came back up and clambered into my room, standing up to his full height, over six feet tall. I looked up at him, waiting with bated breath for him to say something. He just looked at me, unstopped the bottle he'd brought up, and tossed a few swallows back with ease. He pulled a face and then held it out to me.

"Drink," he ordered in a monotone.

"Wh-What is it?" I asked, hesitantly taking the bottle and holding it up to my nose. I took a whiff and gagged.

"_Fucking _drink." His voice had lowered dangerously.

I did as I was told. It burned my throat and I immediately spit it out on the carpet. His answer was to snatch it back, slap me across the face, and then take another swig of it himself. I was careful not to touch my face, even though it stung. Vanitas didn't like it when I acted shocked. He wanted me to understand why he punished me when he did so. He wanted me to feel guilty for making him angry.

"You know what, Kairi?" he said hoarsely, his voice slurring a bit. He turned to shut my bedroom window and turn the latch. Then, he took another drink of the alcohol. "You seem to be fucking up a lot lately."

"I . . . I know," I stammered, my voice tiny. "_M-Mianhaeyo . . . Mianhaeyo . . ._"

"Sorry isn't gonna cut it this time, I'm afraid," he responded in Korean. He stood there, still facing my window, lifted the bottle to his lips, and downed the entire rest of the bottle. I looked on in a mixture of horror and disgust. I had never seen Vanitas get drunk before, and I didn't even know how an eighteen-year-old had gotten access to it, whatever type of liquor it was.

"Ani—"

He held up a hand for silence and then set the empty glass bottle on my dresser. He ran his fingers through his ebony spikes, an I watched as they bounced back into place, sticking up in all sorts of random directions like his twin brother's hair did.

"I thought for a long time about how to truly make you understand how much you fucked up," Vanitas said, slowly looking back at me over his shoulder. His expression was devoid of emotion, revealing nothing. "You thought it was okay to not only ignore me for hours, but to skip school without telling me, aka _avoid me_. But even worse than that is the fact that you spent the _fucking_ morning with my brother. Which meant that he must have been at the apartment last night. A-k-_fucking_-a, bitch, you slept over with Sora." He was walking toward me now.

I looked up at him, my shoulders hunched and my hands held up defensively at my chest. "I'm sorry," I said.

"Is there _something_ I should worry about, Kairi? Huh?" He was keeping his voice lowered, but it still felt like he was screaming at me.

I kept shaking my head, even as he grabbed my upper arms hard enough to leave bruises and shook me violently. Tears had already started to prickle at the corners of my eyes, but I wasn't ready to let them fall just yet.

"You know I love you, right?" He cocked his head to the side and his eyes studied me almost predatorily. "I've loved you for so long that sometimes, I think about taking you away with me so it can be only us."

Petrified, I could only stare at him with wide eyes.

He continued, "I want you to be with me forever, Kairi. I want a part of your heart, and I want you to have a part of mine. I . . . I don't think I could live without you."

Finally, I found words. "Y-You're drunk, Ani . . . You . . . You don't know what you're saying."

His grip on my arms tightened and he moved forward, causing me to move backward. The backs of my knees hit the mattress, but all I could do was wonder when the punishment was going to come. When was he going to start raining blows down? When was going to start hurting me?

"The thought of you with anyone else, especially my brother . . . It makes my skin crawl," Vanitas whispered into my ear, causing shivers to creep down my spine. When he pulled back, it wasn't far enough. Our noses were brushing, and I couldn't stop a small whimper from escaping me. I didn't want him to kiss me. I didn't want him to be my first kiss. I wasn't ready for him to kiss me, or anyone else.

"I like _you_," I tried to assure him, even though it was a lie.

"No, you don't." He sounded weepy now, as though he was in despair. He shook his head rapidly, left and right, back and forth. "If you did, you wouldn't be hiding and sneaking and . . . And . . . And _lying_." The rage flared in his gaze like wildfire.

"So I decided what to do with you," Vanitas said finally, and he dropped his hands from the vicelike grip he'd had on my arms. I refrained from rubbing the newly-forming bruises. "I was gonna do it outside the house, out of respect to your parents, but you said to come in, so . . . You'll have to be quiet."

Oh, God . . . The beating was coming . . .

"Wh . . . What are you gonna do t-to me?"

Vanitas smirked again and it was bone-chilling.

"Mark you. Since you want to be a slut so badly, I'll make it easier for you to do that."

My brows knit together and I stared up at him, my mind working to figure out what he meant. I opened my mouth to speak, to ask questions, but Vanitas shook his head once. I closed my mouth.

"Take off your shirt," he instructed, the monotone having returned.

It clicked in my mind as soon as he gave the order, and I immediately began to protest. I shook my head slowly, and then faster. Was he . . . Was he really going to do this to me? This couldn't be happening. This just wasn't real. It had to be a nightmare . . . Didn't it? I wanted it to be a bad dream so badly that it hurt.

The tears were finally ready to fall.

"Ani, no," I whispered desperately, reaching up to clutch the lapels of his leather jacket. "Don't make me do it."

"Take. Off. Your. Shirt," Vanitas said, wrapping his hand around my throat without squeezing. His fingers massaged my skin, as if to let me know how simple it would be to kill me.

"I don't want to," I whimpered.

"Fine." He smiled quickly and it was full of wickedness. He let go of my throat and shoved me onto my bed. Knowing what was coming, I immediately rolled over and tried to crawl off the side. Without a word, Vanitas grabbed my leg and dug his fingernails in to stop me. He turned me back around so that I was flat on my back, and swung his leg over my so he could straddle me. The weight of his body solidified the fear, and I opened my mouth to scream for my mother and father.

Vanitas slammed his hand over my mouth and leaned closer.

"If you scream even once, you disgusting whore, I will kill you," he hissed before nuzzling his nose against the swell of my ear. He started kissing my neck almost hungrily, and I felt like I was going to throw up. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs, but I believed him. He would kill me. I struggled with all of my might, kicking my legs and scraping the soles of my feet against the sheets in defiance form beneath him.

"A-Ani, please," I begged as I felt his hand squeezing my breast roughly. This was too much, too much . . . Why had I angered him? Why had I been so stupid? I just wanted to go back to the day before and do it all over again. I never should have broken my mirror, never should have called Reno to come pick me up. This was all my fault, and now I was paying the price.

"It's okay," Vanitas soothed, though his voice made me want to cringe. "It'll feel good."

"Stop!" I cried, squirming beneath him as he continued to fondle my chest. It hurt. It didn't feel good at all. "Please stop!"

"I just want to touch you," he groaned, sitting up so he could heavily run his hands up and down my sides, pulling my shirt up. I gasped as my nude chest was revealed, panicked inside at the thought of my stomach being visible, and began to fight harder.

I wailed like a small child when he brought his lips to one of my breasts. I felt like I was covered in dirt and slime. I felt low and disgusting, that something like this would happen to an innocent girl like me. It was wrong. This whole situation was _all wrong_.

Vanitas sat up again and started to beat me about the head and face, and not lightly. I coughed and choked and cried, pleading with him to stop. He snarled at me to shut up, and the pain was so acute that I did as I was told. He went back to pressing dry kisses all over my torso, and I couldn't help it. I tried to push him away, pounding my fists against his chest in desperation, but it was useless. He grabbed both of my wrists with all of his strength and wrenched my arms behind my back, leaning forward so that I was virtually unable to move. It felt like my arms were being torn out of my sockets, and sweat began to bead at my temples from it.

"I swear to God, you fucking bitch," he nearly yelled. "I will shove a knife in-between your ribs and watch you fucking _die _if you don't just lie there and fucking _take it_. _You _brought this on yourself. You act like a slut, and you're just asking for it. So I'm going to give you what you're asking for."

Tears all but pouring from my cerulean eyes, I kept shaking my head. "_Anio,_" I sobbed. "I don't. I'm not."

"Yes, you _fucking_ are." He grabbed my face, his fingers digging into my bruised flesh and slammed his lips against mine. I screamed behind the barrier of his lips and he shoved his tongue into my mouth. It tasted like liquor, and was traumatizing.

Just like that, my first kiss: gone.

But Vanitas wasn't wasting any time. This was about dominance, discipline, and utter control for him. He bared his teeth in an almost feral grin as he placed one hand on my left shoulder to hold me down against the mattress; his other hand found its way down my pajama pants. I could feel his fingers wriggling like worms against the crotch of my panties, and I felt my stomach lurch and the taste of bile filled my mouth.

"Please, please, don't!" I begged, squirming and trying to escape those wormlike appendages. I didn't know anything about this stuff, but I knew it was special stuff that you didn't do with just anyone. You did it with the person you loved, and I did _not _love Vanitas.

This was _wrong_.

He was all but manic now, breathing raggedly. He pushed my panties aside and without warning, shoved his fingers inside of my tiny body. I trembled from the pure invasion of it, and his mouth swallowed my screams, his teeth clamping down on my tongue. I tasted blood and dissolved into gut-wrenching sobs.

I wanted my mother . . . I just wanted my mother . . .

"_Omaaaaa,_" I sobbed my mother's name when he finally let my mouth go, and blood spilled from my mouth. "_Omaaaaa_ . . ."

"Stupid, fat baby," Vanitas said, pumping his dry fingers in and out of my body. "Quit your crying. Just relax, and I promise you'll like it."

"It hurts," I whined. "Please . . . Please stop . . ."

He slapped me again, and then wrapped his fingers around my throat. He pulled his fingers out of me and lewdly licked them right in front of me. I could see him through the darkness, the moonlight illuminating our activities, and I shuddered.

"If you don't cum, I'm going to take you," Vanitas purred after a second of staring at me.

Confused, scared, and severely traumatized, I could only cry softly. I didn't know what he was talking about. I had no idea what he meant. How was I supposed to do anything if I didn't know what he was saying?!

He suddenly reached down again, his fingers wet from licking them, and stroked me once in a much gentler way than he had before. I felt something forbidden lance through me, and my eyes went wide.

He smirked for the millionth time. "There. That felt good, didn't it?"

"No," I protested. "No, it . . . It didn't . . . Ani, please . . . Please just let me go!"

"Not gonna happen," he chuckled darkly, evil glinting in his irises. He began to touch me again, slowly and in circular motions. Everything was wet down there, and it felt electric.

It felt disgusting, and my body was betraying me.

"Stop," I sobbed, my hands clutching at his shirt weakly. "Just . . . _Please stop._"

"I'll stop when you cum," he moaned into my ear. "God, you're so tight . . . I can feel it."

I wept bitterly. I didn't know what his words meant, but they sounded awful. I couldn't believe that my best friend was doing this to me. The boy I'd grown up with. The one who I'd played with on playgrounds. The one who had saved me from bullies and once, from drowning in the ocean. I continued to sob, covering my tear-soaked face with my hands as Vanitas pulled my panties down and began to use his other hand. He slipped one inside me, two fingers only, and used the other one to rub the outside of my most sacred area. I was shivering and twitching, and I didn't know what was going on. I just kept my face covered and cried.

"This is supposed to be your punishment," Vanitas said. "But it's more of a torture for me . . . I want to be inside you so bad."

Suddenly, in one fluid movement, Vanitas took his hands away from my lower body, used them to spread my legs apart, and then pushed his face against my womanhood. I nearly lost my mind, feeling completely and totally invaded. Violated. I tried to push myself up to the headboard, away from his squirming tongue, but it was no use. He grabbed my hips and broke the skin with his fingernails, firmly holding me in place while he tasted my flesh.

I tangled my fingers in my hair and curled my toes inward. I didn't know what was going on with my body. I was scared. All I knew was this was a punishment, and I was having these special things taken away from me because I was being punished. Something was coiling in the depth of my stomach, and my entire lower body was on fire. His tongue lashed against me; he was moaning and it was making me gag.

And then, like lightning, something crashed into me and I saw dark, evil stars spinning in front of my vision. I cried out and arched my back, my hips bucking against Vanitas. I twisted to the side again, sobbing into my pillow. I didn't know what had just happened, but everything was sensitive now, and everything—_everything _—was upside-down.

I shrieked as Vanitas viciously grabbed my hand and brought it to the outside of his pants. I snatched it back and began to struggle anew, twisting away from him and pressing my feet into the mattress to try and escape his hand. He was making me feel something I didn't understand or want to feel.

"Vanitas, _anio_!" I whined hysterically as he tried again to force me to touch him. I felt like I was fighting against a rock wall miles thick—he was pure muscle. "_Anio_!"

"Touch me, or I'll fuck you right now."

I just shook my head. I didn't know what he meant.

"Do you understand me, bitch?" He grabbed a fistful of my hair and tilted my head back at a painfully awkward angle. "I will put my dick so far up inside you that it comes out of your fucking mouth if you don't do as I say."

So, like the worthless piece of trash I was, I did as I was told. I lay there and cried as Vanitas took my hand and forced me to pleasure him until he shuddered and twitched the same way I had. Strange liquids came from him that didn't smell like urine, and sprayed all over my hair and face. I finally was able to shove him away from me, and I rolled off of my bed and onto my floor to retch and cough.

I continued to sob, feeling the disgusting stuff sliding down the side of my bruised cheeks. Vanitas knelt beside me, using one of my blankets to wipe my hair and face clean of blood and . . . Whatever that stuff he'd put on me was. I looked at him through swollen eyes, silently pleading with him to spare me another second of the torture he'd inflicted upon me.

"I had to do it," he said softly, caressed my cheek tenderly. "This is the only thing that will work. It's the only way I can keep you from leaving me."

"H-How . . . How could you?" I choked out in a strangled whisper past my bone-aching sobs. "What did I ever do to you?!"

"If you hang out with other guys, you'll leave me," he said, sounding distantly crazed. "I can't have you do that, Kairi. If you leave, I'll . . . I'll die. I can't live without you."

I collapsed in his arms, not because I wanted to, but because my body was too weak and abused to hold itself up any longer. He held me close on the floor, and I could still feel him touching my insides, feeling and searching for my innocence and purity. My virtue was the only thing I had left, and who knew when he was going to take that, too.

"I'm sorry," he murmured, kissing my temple. "I'm so sorry, Kairi . . . I had to do it . . . I had to . . ."

I pushed him away after a tense moment and cowered against the side of my bed, squeezing my fingers in the duvet. I squeezed my eyes shut and continued to weep unashamedly.

"Just leave," I begged. "Please . . . Just leave!"

Vanitas got up and walked to the window, still saying apologies, and reiterating that he had to punish me, and then he was gone.

As soon as the window shut, a fresh wave of emotions overcame me and I began to scream silently and panic right there on the floor. My mind was unable to process what I had been through. I wanted to forget that it ever happened, but I knew that wasn't possible. And the worst part was there was nobody I could tell. If I told, Vanitas would probably kill me or lie and say I wanted it. I was trapped and broken, and there was nothing I could do about it.

I cried myself to sleep on the floor, knowing that for the rest of my life, nothing would ever be the same again.

_Whenever she is raging, she takes life away._

_Haven't you seen? Haven't you seen?_

_The ruins of our world._

**xxx **

**Author's Note: Speechless. That was the song of the previous chapter, but that's currently how I feel. I stayed up all night to write that, until 6 AM. It was cringeworthy and tough to write, but it was necessary for where the plot is going. Vanitas wants her to be completely and utterly under his spell because with his BPD, he literally thinks he will die without her. She he had to claim her, in his mind this was valid. Of course, you the readers know that this is wrong, wrong, and more wrong . . . Poor Kairi . . . Anyway, I hope you guys liked the happy parts, at least, and please, send good thoughts to Kairi as if she is not fictional. –goes to cry in a hole for innocence lost-**

**PS, if you have any questions about what the Korean words I've been using, just ask me in your review and I'll explain in the next chapter, or in a review reply!**

**As usual, thank you to all my readers, reviewers, hits, and visitors ~ I love you guys!**


	8. Suspicions

**Title: Tears on the Runway**

**Summary: Best friends aren't supposed to hurt you. Best friends are supposed to be there for you, care about you, and love you. What do you do when your best friend starts to twist the meaning of friendship into something much darker and more twisted? With every bruise, Kairi hopes she can fix him. But some people are too monstrous to be fixed. Can she be saved before he goes too far? SxK ; VxK**

**Warnings: This chapter contains a bit of citrusy contentish sorta. Triggering things, lewd words, vulgar language . . . From now on, the story is gonna be pretty intense and dark. I like intensity muahaha.**

**Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me, and belong entirely to Square-Enix and Tetsuya Nomura. The only thing that belongs to me is the events of the plot, and how I have arranged them.**

**Also, in a previous chapter, I mention the names Renton and Eureka, and also Yuna and Seymour. These are **_**Eureka 7 **_**and **_**Final Fantasy **_**characters, and they also do not belong to me.**

**Song Used in this Chapter: '**_**Sailing in the Dark Isn't Smart, Kid' **_**by Emarosa.**

**xxx**

_It feels so pointless . . ._

_Is anyone there?_

_Where is your faith that keeps you moving?_

_Who decides how far we go?_

_Who walks behind us, in case we trip over the smallest crack?_

_Am I unworthy?_

The shower water was scalding hot, but I couldn't be bothered to adjust the levels. I merely sat on the floor, legs hugged close to my chest, the droplets of water sliding over my skin. I wanted to be clean, to be rid of him for good. I couldn't stand the feeling of his fingers on my skin, inside me, scouring my depths and leaving me with nothing. Not even the pain of the burning water was enough to overpower the anguish I was feeling in my soul.

I looked down at my body. How had I managed to gain even _more_ weight? I was just . . . I was just _so fat_. I felt like every part of me where Vanitas's touch had been had grown exponentially, and I was taking up altogether way too much space. A high-pitched keening noise left my mouth as everything inside me fell apart, and I began to wail. I buried my face in my hands, my shoulders shaking as the water burned me, scoured me. Why did this have to happen to me? I never did anything to hurt anyone, and I just wanted to go to school. I didn't want to be scared of being beaten or violated in my own bedroom.

I just wanted to be happy.

After my shower, I stood in the mirror and stared at my body. It was a nightmarish, repulsive mess. Bruises and cuts marred my once olive-toned flesh, and I looked horrible. I couldn't even stand to look at myself anymore.

I made the slow, agonizing trek to my room. The area between my legs was still chafed and sore from Vanitas's abhorrent hands, and each step felt like there were small blades slicing my flesh. I gritted my teeth and fought back the tears. There was no point in crying over spilled milk, right?

In my room, I got dressed slowly, opting for a pair of black leggings and an oversized white dolman sweater. I let my hair cascade down around me, hoping that it would hide my bruised state, grabbed my backpack, and then slowly headed down the stairs.

"Why are you walking like that?" My mother's voice was strained, as it had been in the days since our argument with one another. She had taken to keeping her distance besides to ask the occasional questions—questions that seemed as though she was looking at me sideways. Questions that were giving me anxiety, because it was too soon for me to be answering them.

"I'm on my period," I muttered, going to the cupboard to get a glass for some water. I didn't like lying to my mother, because I had never been a liar as a child, but I didn't want to _think _about what my mother would do if she found out just how bad Vanitas treated me.

"Really?" She didn't sound like she believed me. She was reading the newspaper at the table, and now she turned the page loudly. "And the bruises on your throat?"

"I need iron, _oma_," I complained. "You're the one who told me you'd go buy me the pills I needed."

"No, what you need is a doctor," she retorted. "And that's why I've made you an appointment this week."

Alarm bells went off in my head and I slammed the cup down on the counter, my emotions going haywire for a moment. Doctors were bad. Doctors examined you and found proof where you otherwise didn't want them to. Not only would a doctor figure out that I was being abused, they would also be able to put the puzzle pieces together to prove that I was restricting. And if my restricting was discovered, a doctor would tell my parents and my parents would force me to start eating again. My food and eating habits had gone from being a way to lose weight for Vanitas, to being the only thing I felt like I had control over in my life.

If I lost that . . . I might lose my mind.

"I'm _not _going to the doctor!" I cried angrily. "Just let me take the pills!"

"_Anio_!" my mother barked, sounding livid. "There's something going on with you. Something very bad, and I want some answers. So you're going to the doctor's office so that he can ensure you're healthy and that it's just anemia, and not something worse."

"Nothing is going on with me!" I shrieked, throwing my hands up into the air. "Just leave me alone! I can't deal with you _breathing _down my neck about grades and my boyfriend and my bruises and cheerleading all the time!"

My mother scoffed and set her newspaper down. "How dare you talk to me in that tone, young lady? I am your mother, and it's my job to make sure you are healthy and safe. Your behavior and missing assignments and skipping cheer are all signs of there being a bigger problem. If I want to send you to the doctor's office so that you can get examined, then I most certainly will."

My eyes searched the ground wildly, as though searching for a response. When the response finally came to me, I wasn't sure I truly agreed with myself, but I couldn't stop myself from saying it anyways.

"Then I quit cheer!" I screamed. "I quit! I'm not gonna do it anymore."

My mother exploded, shouting in horror about how much money and time and effort the family had invested in cheerleading, how this was going to ruin my future scholarship chances, how she was going to call my father, but I didn't care enough to listen to her. I blew through the house in a whirlwind, leaving to start my walk to school.

I was tired of juggling so many things just to make everyone happy. The only person whose happiness mattered was Vanitas's, and while at first the reason had been because I wanted to fix him, now the reason was because I was terrified of his power over me. He had shown me that nowhere was safe, not even my own room, and his reach was everywhere. There was no escape. No one could help me.

I was halfway to school when Reno called me on my cell phone.

"_Ne_," I said, my voice thick with pent-up emotions. It was cold outside; cold enough to make my teeth chatter.

"What the heck is going on with you and mom?" Reno complained. "She called me to bitch and moan about your attitude, and something about you quitting cheer . . . ? I'm at work, and I don't have time to be bothered!"

"I don't wanna do it anymore," I said.

"Okay, but why?"

"Because it's too stressful!" I spluttered. "All of my grades are failing, Reno. I'm tired all the time, and I just can't focus on so much stuff."

Reno was quiet for a long time before he finally said, "Is there something that's making it hard for you to focus? Or maybe . . . Some_one_?"

Fuming, I stopped in the middle of the crowded city sidewalk and clenched my fist. This was too much. I felt like my careful web was crumbling and falling apart. I was going to be discovered soon.

"Vanitas treats me wonderfully, Reno," I said icily. "He's not the problem here."

"I think he is the problem, Kairi," Reno said slowly but with strength behind his voice. "I think you're in denial. The bruises are too . . . Too bad to be just anemia."

"He's not the problem," I protested. "He's not! Why can't everyone just leave me _alone_?"

"Because we care about you!" he shouted. "You look awful, and it gets worse every time we see you. I think . . . I really think that we need to have a talk about this."

I wanted to scream and hit something, _anything_. "There is _nothing_ to _talk about_," I hissed, my entire body trembling with how angry I was. "Vanitas is my boyfriend, and that's not going to change. He treats me like gold, and you guys are just going to have to deal with the fact that I'm with him!"

"Kairi, are you kidding me?" Reno sounded bewildered. "Are you in _denial_?"

"I don't have time for this," I snapped, even though I was curious about his words. Had he seen or heard one of my fights with Vanitas? Is that why he and my family members were so sure of what they were suspicious about? I hung up on my brother, unable to listen a second longer.

I ran the rest of the way to school, finding that my stress and emotions just kept growing and growing. I felt full even though I hadn't eaten on purpose since yesterday, and I just wanted to find a way to release it all. I didn't know how to yet, but I knew I would find a way.

I skidded to a halt outside the school in time to see Sora going up the stairs ahead of me with Vanitas. I hesitated. I hadn't seen Sora since the morning of the Denny's trip. He had texted me once, but I had been to scared to reply. I still hadn't gone to meet him at his dance studio yet, either. Would he be rude to me? Or would he go back to pretending I didn't exist? But if I didn't go over there, then Vanitas would be angry with me for being late to meet up with him.

Mustering up my courage, I caught up with them at the front door and gave them both a breathless hello.

Much to my surprise, Vanitas grabbed my wrist and yanked me to him. He planted a kiss square on my lips, right in front of Sora, and while it made my skin crawl and my stomach churn, there was nothing I could do. He pulled away and gave me a bright smile.

"Morning, babe," he said to me.

I caught Sora's gaze, expecting him to have walked away, but instead, he was just watching us. I couldn't read his expression, but from what I could see, it was a little odd. I wondered what he thought of me, now that we'd gotten to know each other a little bit. It was clear to me that he wanted to be friends, but . . . Why was he watching us so . . . So _blankly_?

"Ani, I need to talk to you," I said breathlessly. "Outside for a sec."

He looked confused, and for a moment, his eyes flickered with faint anger. He agreed, we waved goodbye to Sora, and then we went back down the stairs and around the side of the building. As we walked, Vanitas slung his arm around my shoulders, his warmth enveloping me and reminding me of that horrible night where all I had _known _was his warmth.

"I can't stop thinking about the other night," he purred into my ear. "Can't wait until we can mess around again."

I felt like my heart had stopped and I had simultaneously gone deaf. We were hidden away in the alleyway next to the school now, and I was close to passing out from sheer panic. We had both dropped our backpacks on the ground.

"A-Again?" I asked, his arm still around me.

"Yeah." He turned me so that I faced him and placed his hands on my shoulders. He started to push me backward, forcing me to have to take steps until my back hit the wall. We looked at each other, him with a predatory expression and me with one of terror, and I sucked in my breath.

"I thought . .. I thought that it would only be once?" I asked meekly. "That it was a . . . P-Punishment?"

He gave me a sour look. "So me expressing my love for you is just a punishment? Is that it?" His grip on my shoulders was tightening by the moment.

"N-No," I said quickly. "I just thougth that . . . Well, I've never doen any of that stuff before, and I'm . . . I don't think I can handle doing it again."

"So now I'm _repulsive _to you?" His fingernails had started to dig into my flesh, and it hurt.

"No, Ani!" I cried, squirming beneath his painful grip. "I'm just . . . I don't know anything about that stuff, and you forced it on me! Okay? You forced me, and I wasn't ready!"

Vanitas's orange-colored eyes were glittering with crazed fury, and in less than a second, he'd pulled me forward and then slammed me back against the wall so hard that my vision was spinning. The base of my skull throbbed and ached, and I whimpered in anguish. I was regretting coming back here with him.

"What did you need to talk to me about?" Vanitas growled. "How disgusted you are of me, of my way of showing love to you?!"

"No!" I pleaded. "I came to tell you that my family is asking questions a lot now."

"Questions?" His grip on me faltered a bit, granting me a brief respite from the pain. "About what?"

"The bruises," I whispered, hoping against all hope that this worked. "They're suspicious of you."

Vanitas's face twisted. "Are you telling them I'm beating you?! Because you know that what I do to you is for your own good, right? You know that it'd discipline? Punishments that you deserve?"

My knees went weak as he started to claw into my shoulders again. He was glaring at me, but it was like he was glaring _through_ me. My blood went cold and my heart filled with regret. I shouldn't have told him about my family's suspicions. I should have known that Vanitas didn't see himself as a violent or abusive man.

"I told them that you treat me like gold," I said honestly, reaching up to try and push Vanitas's hands away from me. "I swear."

"You're such a stupid girl, Kairi," Vanitas breathed, shaking his head slowly. "So stupid, and so, _so _naïve. I don't care what your family is asking—they can't tear us apart. They can't break our love apart. And as for what happened the other night . . ."

I cried out when Vanitas suddenly pushed his body against mine and dropped his hands around to cup my rear. He lifted me up so that by pure reflex and fear of falling, I had to wrap my legs around his waist and grab onto the edges of his unzipped hoodie. I wriggled uncomfortably, wishing there was someway to keep his pelvis away from mine. I whined piteously—was he going to touch me right here, right in the open? What if someone chanced a glance down the dim alley and saw us? Nobody would help, and all I would receive is an audience to my abuse.

"The more we do it, the easier it will get. The better it will feel, okay?" He leaned forward, his jet black spiky hair tickling my throat as he pressed a kiss to my throat. "And then . . . When I finally make love to you, you'll see just how wonderful I can be."

"N-No," I whispered pitifully. "I'm not . . . I'm not ready . . ."

"Nonsense," he smirked into my throat, nipping my skin with his teeth. "All girls think they're not ready, but they're just nervous. Because your _body_ is ready, your mind just needs to catch up."

He was getting inside my head, trying to twist everything around. He was trying to manipulate me. But the truth was, I didn't want to lose my virginity to him. Yes, I was dating him in an attempt to keep him happy and maybe find a way to convince him not to hurt me anymore, but that didn't mean I was willing to sacrifice something so sacred.

"Vanitas, I don't _want _to do that stuff anymore," I begged. "Please don't make me!"

He said nothing, only continued to lavish my throat with attention, biting and suckling to the point where it hurt me. He was grinding his hips against mine, as though he was sure I was delusional or just trying to play coy, and it was making me nauseous. I balled my hands into fists and tried to push him away, but he was a solid mass of muscle, and he wasn't budging an inch.

"How would you like it if we did it right here?" he groaned lowly, pressing his hardness against the crotch of my leggings, where I was still extremely sore. "Right here, where anyone can see us?"

"No," I whimpered, trying to twist or struggle or just . . . _Anything_. I couldn't stand to be here a moment longer. I couldn't stand to feel his touch on me for another second. I wanted him to just leave me alone.

"I think you want it," he whispered, taking one of his hands and slipping it under the hem of my sweater so he could drag his nails up my sides. I started to cry out in pain as he broke the skin and scraped me, but he shot me a look. "Don't even think about screaming."

I trembled violently, because I couldn't move away from those terrible fingernails. I could feel blood welling up and dripping down my waist, and I could no longer stop myself from bursting out into tears.

Vanitas stopped what he was doing and watched me cry for a moment.

"Why do you always cry when I touch you?" he asked, and I could hear the threat laced in his voice. In the distance, I heard the school bell ringing. "Do you not love me anymore?"

"I do love you!" I said through my sobs, scared that if I said otherwise, he would hurt me again. "But you hurt me, Ani. You really hurt me."

He frowned. "But . . . I just don't want you to _leave_ me."

"I'm not going to leave you, I promise."

He hesitated, and then slowly let me get back on my feet. I wiped my tears and prepared to do something that would not only spell big trouble, but was the only option I felt like I had left. Hearing that Vanitas had every intention of taking my virginity . . . Well, I couldn't take it. I was scared out of my mind.

As soon as I had enough room, I bolted, leaving my backpack behind. I heard Vanitas cussing and giving chase, but I didn't care. I ran out of the alleyway, my feet pounding against the pavement as I employed every last cheerleading muscle I had in my body to push me forward. I weaved my way through the people, the crowd thickening the further I got from the school. I knew I was going to get in trouble with parents for skipping school, but I just . . . I couldn't stand another second of having Vanitas touching me. I felt like I couldn't breathe when I was around him; like he was continuously wrapping his hands around my throat and choking me.

I lost Vanitas somewhere around a shopping center, ducking into the TJ Maxx and watching him zoom by. I stood in the Houseware section, hands on my knees as I panted for breath. My heart was racing wildly and my stomach had a cramp in the side, which I knew was probably because I hadn't been eating enough. The area between my legs hurt even worse now, but my adrenaline was helping me to ignore it. I could feel people's eyes on me in the store, but I didn't care. I walked over to the fitting rooms and sat down to try and figure out what to do now that I had chosen to skip school for the day. Again.

And who had I skipped with last time?

A smile spread across my face and I grabbed my phone out of my pocket. I tapped out a text to Sora asking him how much he really wanted to be at school. His reply came a minute later.

**Like zero percent. Where you at?**

Gleefully, I replied, **I ditched. I'm at TJ Maxx doing nothing.**

** Is Vanitas with you?**

** Nope. Come hang out with me!**

As I waited for his response, I couldn't help but feel an elated thrill run through me. I had literally ran away from Vanitas and was now going to hang out with his twin behind his back. It felt like I was rebelling against a parent, defying Vanitas like that. I needed the break though, and I would worry about how Vanitas was going to punish me when he next saw me later.

My phone vibrated. Sora had replied. I glanced down at the screen, my pulse pounding, and then smiled.

Sora was on his way.

_These things can only be said so many times _

_before they become our fears._

_I find myself swimming farther than I ever planned to go,_

_out in this lost ocean._

_Perfection will never overpower us._

**xxx**

**Author's Note: Okay, I know that chapter was shorter than the last two, and it was totally just a filler/bridge chapter, but I hope you all liked it nonetheless. I just want to let you guys know that this story is not going to be slow-paced, because unfortunately, I would probably tear my hair out if it was slow because I'm so impatient. I will do my best to make the relationships unfold realistically, but I really like to write intense relationships. Like, INTENSE. But that's my only hint! Except for the reviewer who asked about if I could write some of their past . . . I'm not sure if I will do that because I kinda sorta hate flashbacks. Or at least, I hate writing them. It's like pulling teeth haha. But I will keep it in mind for future chapters. It kinda doesn't fit with what I have planned though, and you will seeeeeeee what that is. Anyway, thank you to all the wonderful people who left me reviews, and who favorite and followed! Seriously make my world go round and round, I love you forever. Especially those of you who are my fans, who have stuck with me since the first edition of Love Must Come, way back in the day!**

**See ya'll next tiiiime!**


	9. Skipping Class

**Title: Tears on the Runway**

**Summary: Best friends aren't supposed to hurt you. Best friends are supposed to be there for you, care about you, and love you. What do you do when your best friend starts to twist the meaning of friendship into something much darker and more twisted? With every bruise, Kairi hopes she can fix him. But some people are too monstrous to be fixed. Can she be saved before he goes too far? SxK ; VxK**

**Warnings: This story is rated M. This chapter only contains some cigarette use and foul language.**

**Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me, and belong entirely to Square-Enix and Tetsuya Nomura. The only thing that belongs to me is the events of the plot, and how I have arranged them.**

**Song Used in this Chapter: '**_**Strangeness and Charm'**_** by Florence & the Machine.**

**xxx**

_Hydrogen in our veins, it cannot hold itself, our blood is boiling._

_And the pressure in our bodies that echoes up above, it is exploding._

_And our particles that burn it all because they aim for each other_

_And although we stick together it seems that we are stranging one another_

_So feel it on me love_

_So see it on me love_

Sora texted me when he was outside, and I hurried out to meet him, hoping that I didn't look too banged up from my encounter with Vanitas. He was standing out on the sidewalk, smirking at me.

"You've never seemed like much of a troublemaker," he said as I walked up, his hands in his skinny jeans' pockets. "But I'm learning that I've been very wrong about you."

I grinned back, wanting to forget all about why I was skipping. "What can I say? I like surprising people. Where's your car?"

"I left it in the parking lot at school," he shrugged, then raised his eyebrows. "Where's my hat?"

I smiled and touched my hair. "I didn't wanna mess up my hair."

We both laughed for a while, drawing a few looks from adults shopping in the shopping center.

I desperately wanted to ask him as many questions as possible—I wanted to know more about this boy, and I wanted to know now. I couldn't, however, because I was too afraid. I was afraid that letting him in would cause me to be hurt again, and I was afraid that he might not like what I had to say. I was afraid that my words would seem too immature, or too juvenile, or just plain worthless to his heavenly ears. So I opted for staring at the ground instead, feeling, unworthy of his presence.

"Wanna go . . . Get something to eat?" Sora asked haltingly, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand.

I looked up in surprise. I was powerless to stop my face from lighting up from the inside out, and I clasped my hands at my chest.

_ "_R-Really?" I stammered, gazing up at him through my long lashes.

He nodded.

"But . . ." I said slowly. "I don't have any money." I glanced away, feeling somewhat awkward. The last time I had hung out with Sora, he had paid for my food with his own money—food that I hadn't even eaten. I felt terrible about it.

"Don't worry about it," Sora said, flashing a quick smile. "I got it."

Shyly, I shook my head. "N-No, that's not nece—"

"Seriously." He tossed his bangs out of his gaze. "I've got it, Kairi."

Something in the way that he said my name sent a chill up my spine, and I looked down at the ground. He jerked his head in the direction of the McDonald's, which was conveniently located just down the road, and we set off. As we walked, he reached into the back pocket of his skinny jeans and surprisingly drew a box of cigarettes from within. I watched as he produced a lighter from his other back pocket, placed the cigarette in his mouth, and litthe stick of nicotine in a fluid, almost sensual way.

Smoking, although a disgusting habit, seemed somewhat attractive to me at the moment.

The breeze played lightly through Sora's chestnut locks and he removed the cigarette from his mouth with his right hand. He looked at me, smirked, and blew a small cloud of smoke in my direction.

"Tell me about yourself, Red," he remarked lightly. "I mean, I know you told me you like dance and stuff, but like . . . Tell me about _you_."

"I . . . I'm Korean?" I stated somewhat lamely, unable to think of anything clever to say. It was in that moment that I realized that I was nervous—more nervous than I'd ever been in my entire life. Which was weird, since I'd already hung out with him before.

He laughed shortly. "I, uh, figured, Red." He took another drag on the cigarette, the tip glowing bright orange. He looked at me with those startling azure eyes, and I couldn't help but lose my breath.

"So what the Hell made you go from being a straight-A model cheerleader, to skipping school and going to McDonald's with your boyfriend's twin brother?" he asked, the smoke falling out of his mouth in time with his words.

"No reason," I answered. "I just . . . I guess I'm tired of being a straight-A model cheerleader."

"How come? Parents putting the college pressure on you?"

". . . More like, putting the pressure of life on me," I said in a somewhat muted tone.

It took me a second of walking to realize that Sora had stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and was just watching me with a curious glint in his eyes. I stopped, too, angering a few of the many passerby, and walked back to him.

"Didn't you want to eat?" I asked.

"Raincheck?" He raised one eyebrow, placing the cigarette back into his mouth.

I felt mixed emotions of relief and dismay. "So . . . You want to go back?"

He answered with the cigarette hanging from his lips.

"I never said that."

I blushed.

"Let's go somewhere," he suggested.

My eyes widened. "Well, where would we go? You left your car . . . If we go back, we might get caught, and then get detention."

Sora grinned wolfishly and tossed away his half-smoked cigarette. "Apparently we don't know much about each other at all."

I gave him a questioning look and he just shook his head.

"Detention is my second home; let's get out of here."

Before I could get another word in edgewise, Sora had grabbed my left hand and dragged me rapidly through the crowd and to a nearby bus stop. He pushed me onto the bus as it pulled up, and paid the fees with a couple crumpled dollar bills that he was carrying in the front pocket of his jeans. We then stumbled to the back of the virtually empty bus as the vehicle lurched forward, and practically fell onto the worn leather bench.

"Where do you want to go?" I asked him, twisting my hands nervously in the hem of my oversized white sweater.

He stretched his arms and folded them behind his head, relaxing back with a heavy sigh.

"Everywhere, anywhere, nowhere," he mumbled, letting his eyes fall shut. "I don't really give a fuck."

I smiled at his sudden curse word and tucked my bangs out of my eyes. They fell back, as usual, and I turned my head to the left to stare out the window.

We rode the bus for what felt like forever, until the sunlight had turned from blaring yellow to a gentle orange as the great star fell behind the horizon. I was surprised with myself for not being worried that I was going to get in trouble with my parents or with Vanitas, and quite frankly, I didn't much care. I was content just sitting in absolute silence on that rickety old bus, hurtling through the city next to the warmth of an extremely cute boy who smelled like cigarettes and nostalgia.

My mind wandered across the planes of my consciousness, and I started to think of my parents. Sometimes, I wondered what they really thought of me. They had two sons who disappointed them with the sheer fact that they weren't academic and "involved", and I believed that as a result, they took out their fears on me. It was almost like they thought that the family legacy was resting on my shoulders and mine alone, and that every mistake I made would be the end of us.

My father running for a government position didn't help either. We hadn't really had much drama on that front lately, though, since most of the news anchors were focused on the other candidates for awhile, but my father was still attending press conferences and meetings for his current job. Since the election was less than four months away, he was always in his office at home, and the only time he came out was for dinner or bed. And let me tell you, those dinners were a nightmare. Now that Axel and Reno had moved out, my parents just spent the whole duration of our meals asking me why I was failing and why I had stopped going to cheer practice and why I hadn't been taking iron pills, blah blah blah . . . It was all very stressful, so this little bus ride adventure was the best kind of reprieve.

The bus driver halted on the road next to an old, closed elementary school overrun with trees. He looked back at Sora and I through the large rearview mirror, smiling kindly.

"This is my last stop for the night," he said. "Were you guys gonna get off?"

I didn't know what to say, feeling somewhat terrified of being dropped off at some abandoned school building clear on the opposite side of the island from our city. I glanced over at Sora, preparing to wake him up from his light slumber, but he was already sitting up, yawning.

"We'll get off here," the brunette said through another yawn, grabbing my hand and pulling me to the door.

"Have a good night," the bus driver said curiously, watching Sora pull me off the bus and out into the twilight. Feeling obligated to, I turned around before the bus doors swung shut and gave the driver a wave and a small smile. He returned the favor, and then the bus was gone, taking with it my only chance of escape should things go horribly and terribly wrong.

Not that I thought Sora was anything like his brother, the boyfriend who was going to literally kick my _ass _when he saw me again.

Sora stretched his arms above his head and turned to look at the school.

"Home, sweet home," he said, setting off toward the left side of the run-down, rotting building.

"Huh?" I queried, running to keep pace with his long strides.

Sora stopped abruptly right after rounding the corner of the building, and I ran into his back. Stumbling on my feet, I fell back onto my rump in the dirt, pain lancing its way up my body.

"Owie . . ." I remarked with a pout, looking up at Sora. "Why did you stop?"

"Come on," he said, ignoring me. He glanced at me over his shoulder and gave me an amused look. "What're you doing on the ground, Red? Let's go to the playground."

I took the hand that he offered to help me up, and then he immediately set off at a fast-paced gait to the large playground across the asphalt. I paused for a moment, then panicked as I realized how dark it was getting and how quickly it was doing so, and then rushed over to the jungle gym.

"Sora?" I called, wondering where he'd gone off to. I peered around the jungle gym, confused, and then wandered over to the large play structure that contained all sorts of different things for kids to climb and play on, all combined into one.

"Sora?" I repeated, holding onto the firehouse pole and swinging around it so that my long, long hair fell off my back and swung like crimson vines. I kept spinning until I was dizzy, forgetting all about my problems as I let the twilight consume me; let the gentle heat warm me as much as possible before it completely dissipated and faded into the cold of night. It was the simple things that most fascinated me sometimes—the small facts of nature.

As I whipped around one last time, I slammed face-first into the chest of none other than Sora, who grabbed a hold of my upper arms and smirked down at me.

"Boo," he drawled lazily.

I looked up at him, in awe of his handsome looks and startling azure eyes, and then shyly stepped out of his grasp.

"Where did you go?" I asked, running my hands through my long hair.

He took out another cigarette and lit it (I wondered if he was stressed out bout something in his own life). "Everywhere, anywhere, nowhere."

I looked at him, recognizing the phrase since he said it on the bus, and then decided to sit on one of the swings. As soon as my rump touched the curved rubber seat and my fingers clamped down around the metal chains holding it up, I felt Sora's hand on my lower back, pushing me forward gently.

It was quiet for a long time before Sora finally asked, "Have you ever been in love, Red?"

I swung back and he pushed me again.

"Haven't you ever heard of 'I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours'?" I said calmly.

He pushed me again and as I came back, I saw tendrils of cigarette smoke wafting around my head from behind. That was his third one already.

"That goes without saying," he laughed. "We could argue that for eternity."

I looked down and gripped the chains of the swing even tighter. "An effective diversion, no?"

He laughed again. "Fair enough, Red." He pushed me forward, a little harder this time, and I went high enough that I could almost see as far as the road the bus dropped us off on.

As the quiet settled over us again, I took the time to wonder why Sora was suddenly making so conscious an effort to getting to know me. It had been almost overnight, his interest in me, and I had to admit that I was a little sad. I wished that I wasn't so terrified of Vanitas. I wished that I didn't have to think about the fact that he had violated me and that he beat me, and I wished that I could be swinging on this swing set without worrying about the consequences.

I wished there weren't even going to _be_ consequences.

Sora pushed my swing again, a little harder than last time, and stepped back to accommodate the difference in speed.

"I went to this school," he said softly after taking another drag on his cigarette.

"You did?" I replied. "For how long?"

"'Til sixth grade, just like anybody else," he said in a quiet voice, still pushing my swing. "Before I moved."

"Moved? Moved where?" I frowned. Vanitas had never moved, and I couldn't remember Sora ever having moved. Although, when we were kids, I hadn't actually met him until the first year of high school. I had only seen him in pictures, and for some reason (perhaps because I was a young girl), I had formed a huge crush on him that had only intensified when I _had _met him.

The swinging halted momentarily, and I saw more smoke flutter past my head.

"The mainland, to live with my grandma for a while." He sighed, and I smelled the sickly-sweet scent of burning nicotine. My heart jumped as I felt his hands close over mine on the swing. My heart pounded as he pulled me close to him. I turned my head slightly as if to look at him, but nervousness and fear overcame me and I faced the front once again.

"Let's go over to the trees in the soccer field," he suddenly suggested, his voice coming from right beside my ear. I jumped, startled from the sudden noise, and then stood up.

"Okay."

We started to walk across the small pebbles that made up the ground of the playground, and as soon as our feet touched the grass, Sora removed his all-black Vans and looked at me. I took it as a cue to continue following him, and he led me across the field, to the far end where the woods stretched out. We sat down in the soft, dry grass and Sora tossed aside his cigarette butt.

He wasted no time.

"After I graduated the sixth grade was when it all began," he said slowly as he lied back. He folded his arms under his head and sighed.

"When what began?" I asked, hugging my knees to my chest.

"Everything," he replied, closing his eyes. "The drugs, the parties, the sex. Everything and nothing, all rolled up into one." He rolled over and laid his head on one arm, looking up at me somewhat blankly. "I lost sight of everything before I ever got the chance to find it, and before I knew it, things had gotten so out of hand that it was affecting not only me, but Vanitas, too."

"His Borderline Personality Disorder?" I asked, pushing my bangs out of my eyes. I was intrigued. Could Sora maybe have the answers I was looking for about Vanitas? Maybe I could use what Sora had to say in my plan to help Vanitas get better?

"Yeah," the blonde answered without missing a beat. "He was so busy worrying about me, freaking out about everything, that he didn't notice something was wrong with himself. I mean we fought all the time. All the time. Vanitas was so . . . Over-dramatic. Like he thought if I was even mad at him for one second, then I was going to stop being his brother."

I looked over at Sora, realizing that he was lost within himself, talking mostly for the sake of talking. I didn't think he much cared what I thought . . . He just wanted me to listen. Luckily for him, I was speechless. His story was inciting emotions in me that I feared would cause me to burst out in tears if I said even one word.

Sora stretched out, arching his back and groaning. Things got so bad that Vanitas put me in a hospital when we were fourteen. By then, my parents knew it was time to take him to a doctor, but for me . . . It was too late. I already blamed myself and thought that somehow, it was _my _fault that Vanitas was so sick. I mean, I was his twin, right? I was so desperate to help my brother and so young, that I tried to end it all the only way I thought made sense." He smiled wistfully, tore out a large handful of lush grass, and tossed it up into the air so that the flakes of green showered over us like rose petals. "I overdosed on a shit ton of my mom's sleeping pills, because some kid at school told me it might make me sleep forever."

I stared at Sora with wide, concerned eyes. I still had no words, so I just continued to hug my knees close to my chest. After all, what do you say to a suicidal human being that he hasn't heard already before? Saying "don't worry, life _is_ worth living for!" doesn't exactly fall under the category of "new and interesting ways to prevent suicide."

He laughed a little bit and threw some more grass blades in my direction.

"Don't look so somber," he said brightly. "I was a stupid kid. All it did was put me out for like two fuckin' days. I woke up with a headache, and Vanitas was still the same shithead. He just had medicine now. Anyway, I don't even know why I told you that. Shiiiit."

I looked away and up to the sky. So Sora had experienced Vanitas's abusive side, too, and he had felt the same about wanting to help him. Only he had failed. Would I fail, too? Would I be driven to suicidal attempts? Would Vanitas put me in the hospital?

Suddenly, I felt extremely uncomfortable out there, all alone near the woods with a boy. Especially after what Vanitas had done to me. I jumped up to my feet.

"How fast can you run?" I asked him, grinning.

He looked up at me, eyes twinkling. "Fast enough."

I smiled. "Catch me."

Soon enough, we were laughing and chasing each other around the soccer field. The look on Sora's face was odd—like a mixture of joy and mischievousness. I find that I don't like it; it reminds me of Vanitas.

"Take me home," I suddenly said in a small voice.

Looking confused, Sora asked, "Why?"

I took a step backward as he took a step toward me. We were yards away from each other, but it felt like centimeters. I didn't like it. I didn't like it one bit. The worst part was that I had no idea _why_. I _liked_ Sora. I liked him more than anything, so why was I seeing Vanitas when I looked at him?

"I want to go home," I said firmly. "Let's just get back before I get in trouble."

Sora eyed me, and I felt like he just . . . Knew. He knew everything about me, and he was going to use it against me. I started to panic, and the only thing I could do was run.

So I ran.

"Kairi!" Sora called with a concerned yell. "Where are you going?"

I didn't answer, and instead, kept running as fast as I possibly could. All I could do was stare forward. I could feel Vanitas behind me, chasing after me, reaching for me, calling my name.

Sora caught up to me suddenly, grabbing my elbow and yanking me backward, whipping me around. I started screaming, screaming at the top of my lungs until my throat was raw and my voice was hoarse. I was having an anxiety attack before I knew it, but there was nothing I could do to stop it from happening. I started choking on my breath, trying to get the beautiful brunette boy holding me to understand with just my eyes.

"_Kairi_!" Sora shouted in alarm over the sounds of my high-pitched shrieking, gripping my shoulders and shaking me once to try and snap me out of it. "_What the Hell_?! What's _wrong_?"

I shoved him backward and turned around, counting backward from one hundred to one inside my head. I knew that Sora must have felt bewildered, and maybe even a little bit afraid, and it was because of that that I felt such a deep feeling of embarrassment that it was all I could do not to burst out in tears of shame.

Finally, I turned back around, considerably calmer, but still a bit on edge.

"I'm sorry, I just . . ." I lowered my gaze. "This is so surreal . . ."

"Huh?" he says.

My hands start to shake. "I'm not good enough . . . For you to be . . . I'm not the one you should share your life with the way you did over there, I'm . . ." I could see Vanitas mocking me in my mind's eye, calling me fat and worthless and touching me, taking everything I had in me. Why would someone like _me _deserve to hear the innermost thoughts of someone as perfect and handsome as Sora?

"Don't say that . . ." Sora trailed off and took my hand, using his free hand to tilt my chin upward. "You're not worthless."

"You don't even know me," I said in Korean, tears filling my eyes. Why was this happening? Sora was comforting me, the boy I had liked for so long, touching me gently and telling me I had value. This really _was _surreal.

"I don't need to know you," he replied honestly, his eyes fringed heavily by his dark, long lashes. The cerulean depths were pulling me in, frightening me at the same time as drawing me closer. "From the moment I saw you, I knew you were valuable."

My bottom lip quivered and I tried to turn my face away. This was . . . It was too intense. Sora stopped me, holding my chin tighter, rubbing my skin gently with his thumb. I had never felt such tenderness, and it was threatening to undo me at the seams.

"Remember how I said Vanitas put me in the hospital?" he asked. He took a deep breath and then asked, "Are you . . . Is there any possibility . . . That he might be close to putting you in the hospital, too?"

My eyes shot open as wide as they possibly could and I tried to move my body away from him. I could feel my heart beating and I was close to panicking again. I didn't want anyone to know about what Vanitas was doing to me. I wasn't ready. If anyone found out . . . He'd kill me.

"Kairi . . ." Much to my immense surprise, Sora pulled me close, into the warm embrace of his strong arms, and it was all I could do not to melt into him. Around us, the nighttime wind was blowing somewhat strongly, causing the swings to move of their own accord, squeaking on their hinges.

"I want to get to know you," Sora murmured against my hair. "I want to find out who you really are. And if my brother is hurting you, I want to help you."

"I'm scared," was all I could manage to breathe, tears starting to roll down my cheeks.

"Me, too." He held me tighter, if at all possible, and when he let go, I found that I was too embarrassed to look him in the eye. He took my left hand in both of his and brought it to his lips, not kissing it but just holding it against them. I was shaking again, wondering how such tenderness and care could be shown to trash like me from a boy I barely _knew_, no matter how long I had known _of _him. He was looking at me so sincerely, so deeply, that I felt like he could see into my very soul.

He kissed my palm, the warmth of his body sending jolts of something strange down throughout my body. It was as if my skin was on fire, and he was only stoking the flames. He kissed my palm again, this time closer to my wrist, and I drew my hand back, afraid.

"Kairi, is there any possibility of Vanitas putting you in the hospital, too?" He repeated his earlier question, his gaze darting back and forth between my azure eyes, waiting patiently for an answer. I know I could tell him, and how simple it would be to just say the words . . .

I opened my mouth to speak, but the fear took over, and I dragged myself backward, away from him.

'_I can't tell him . . .' _I thought despairingly. '_If I do, he'll tell everyone else, and Vanitas will be put in jail. He won't get the help he needs. I . . . I can't tell him.'_

Sora sighed and held out his hands to me. "Let's go over to the trees again? We can talk about it. I want to help you."

"Why?"

"I want to talk; that's all."

I felt terror run like ice through my veins as a particularly stand out memory of the beginnings of Vanitas's abuse popped up into my mind:

'_Vanitas reached for me. _

_ "Come skip first period with me; we can go to my car."_

_ I watched him warily. "Why?"_

_ He gave me the charming smile that always made my knees go weak, and made my trust in him completely regenerate. He'd promised me he'd never touch me again—not after the first time he'd hit me—but still, I felt uneasy._

_ "I just want to talk; that's all."'_

I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them again.

Vanitas hadn't just wanted to talk that day.

He'd beaten me about the head with his fists because I had "talked back to him," and he hadn't liked my tone. However, it wasn't that actions from that day that had stuck with me—it was the words. It was the broken promise that repeated itself inside my head over and over.

"I . . . Can't," I said. "I just . . . I can't . . ."

All-of-the-sudden, Sora grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me against his chest. He held me tightly, burying his face in my ebony hair and telling me that everything is going to be all right. I stood there, shocked and somewhat tense. I didn't know how to react, mostly because being held by Sora was a dream come true.

"I won't pressure you into telling me if you don't want me to," he insisted. "I just want to know you—I want to know what's going so I can understand you better."

I stared at him unhappily before extracting myself from his embrace and going back to the swings. He sat down in the swing next to mine, finally, and leaned to the side, against the right-hand chain. His hand trailed downward, fingertips barely brushing the ground as his swing moved ever-so-slightly.

"Hey," he suddenly said after a long, tense silence, his eyes lighting up brighter than the afternoon sun.

"Hm?" I asked, looking at him in curiosity, hands tightly gripping the chains of the swings.

"Have you ever played Hot Lava Monster?" he asked with a wide smile.

"Hot Lava Monster?" I questioned, taken aback by the sudden change in his mood. "What's that?"

He grinned and jumped onto his feet. Gesturing at the assorted small rocks and pebbles of the playground, he looked at me with excitement. "You don't know it? It's a childhood game that everyone used to play on the playground in elementary school."

"Oh," I said, looking away in embarrassment. "I was kind-of a bookworm as a kid. I was always in the Library, reading _Redwall_ books!"

"Well, let me teach you!" he said, throwing his hands up into the air in delight. "Come on; get up!"

Feeling slightly disoriented, I stood quickly to my feet. The world spun for a moment, and my vision went blurry. I blinked rapidly and placed a hand on my forehead. Thankfully, Sora was glancing at all of the playground equipment, so he didn't see my little bout of fatigue. When he turned back around, I was already standing beside him, hands on my hips and ready to play this "Hot Lava Monster" game.

"Basically," he started, "one of us is the monster and the other is the prey. The rocks are 'lava' and the equipment is safe. You can only walk across the rocks for ten seconds, and once you're on the equipment, then you're safe. But once you're caught . . ."

"You become the next monster?" I asked.

He turned and wriggled his eyebrows mischievously at me. "Nope. You become my dinner."

"_Mweo_? Who says you get to be the monster, _oppa_?" I teased, poking him in the side.

He shrugged innocently. "Oh, you know, just the fact that I'm smarter and tougher and faster than a girl like you."

I gasped in mock offense and said, "Fine. Then I get a fifteen second head start."

"No way!" Sora protested, stalking after me slowly as I started to back away. "Five seconds."

"Eight."

"Seven."

"Six, and that's my final offer."

"Five and a half."

I paused, tapping my chin playfully. Then, I smiled cheerfully. "Bye."

With that, I was off, sprinting as fast as I could toward the nearby jungle gym. I heard Sora curse behind me, then heard rocks flying as he zoomed after me. I couldn't help but giggle as I hurriedly clambered onto the rungs of the front side of the jungle gym, glancing over my shoulder to stick my tongue out at him.

"Too slow, Joe," I laughed, climbing all the way to the top and sitting down quite comfortably.

Sora crossed his arms over his chest. "You can't stay up there forever, you know."

"Yes, I can," I shot back. "You never said that there was a time limit on the safe spots."

He pouted and then said, "But do you really _want _to stay up there for the entire duration of the game? If you do, then how will we be able to keep playing the game?"

"Fine," I said, rolling up my sleeves as a cunning plot came to my mind. "For each question I ask you that you answer, then I'll move down one rung. Each one that you refuse to answer, I get to move _over_, effectively making it so that I can slide down—away from you, might I add—and get to the next safe spot."

Sora grinned. "Sounds good to me."

I looked up into the sky, mulling over all sorts of different things in my head. So what did I want to know? I tried to think of all the things that would be important, but tough to answer. Upset at what had happened earlier by the trees or not, I was still a highly competitive person, and there was no way I was going to let him beat me at this game.

"What's the worst thing you've ever done?" I asked sincerely, resting my hands on my kneecaps and staring down at the rather cute boy standing below me.

"Wow, Red, kinda heavy question," Sora chuckled lowly, rubbing the back of his neck somewhat awkwardly. "I don't really know what to say."

"You have to answer the question," I said sternly, no trace of joking or amusement in my eyes. For some reason, I knew that I needed this. I needed to hear the truth from him so that I could trust him better than I could trust myself.

He looked up at me, locking gazes, and quietly said, "I break the heart of every girl I date."

"Why?" I said.

"Ah-ah-ah," he said, smiling lightly and wagging a disappointed finger in my direction. "You have to slide down one rung; I answered a question, remember?"

I rolled my eyes and did so. I had to admit that I was quite curious to learn more about Sora and his life as a heartbreaker of sorts.

"Okay, so tell me," I said, gripping the rungs on either side of me tightly so as not to fall off. "Why are you a heartbreaker?"

Sora tossed his head to get his bangs out of his eyes, which are glancing off to the trees at the edge of the soccer field. He bit his bottom lip and, for a moment, I got the feeling that we were treading on unsteady ground.

"Every girl I fall for, I feel like they aren't good enough for me. I'm one of those people who wants to be with the one girl that's right for me, and I feel like I'll know when I meet her. So I break up with girls left and right, because I'm still searching. It sounds harsh, I know, but . . . It's true," he explained.

I stared down at Sora in complete and utter astonishment. Part of me is speechless, unable to mentally comprehend the information that he has just given me. Another part of me is a little jealous. Hearing that Sora was looking for the one only made me feel like wishing that _I _was the one for him, and had me feeling sick to my stomach knowing that there was no way I was special enough for it to ever be me. I could never been Sora's _one_.

Sora stepped forward, and as I shrunk back against the curve of the jungle gym, I realized that he was so tall that his face was right near mine. Either that, or the jungle gym was definitely made for small children.

His lithe fingers curled around the rungs next to my head and he leaned in so close that I could smell the nicotine of his cigarettes on his breath. The corners of his mouth curved up in the smallest of smirks, and all I could see was the endless cerulean depths of his irises.

"Are you scared of me now?" he asked in a voice hardly louder than a whisper.

I placed my hands on his chest and shoved him away, giggling triumphantly. I slid completely off the jungle gym, taking Sora by surprise, and dashed across to the large play structure that looked much like a pirate ship with a slide coming off the end. I heard Sora's dark chuckle and felt slight wind as he made a grab for my arm, and then I was jumping onto the end of the slide, grinning up at him wickedly.

"You didn't finish asking me the questions," Sora said breathlessly, standing in front of me with both of his hands on his hips.

"You really want me to ask more?" I said, raising one eyebrow. I didn't really see the point in the question game anymore, seeing as it was only an improvisation to help me get off the jungle gym without getting tagged. Besides, it had only caused me to compare myself to something I felt like I couldn't live up to.

"Sure," he shrugged. "Why not? How else are ya gonna get to know me?"

I sighed thoughtfully, looking up as I rifled through all the questions I could ask Sora. Settling upon a rather harmless one, I asked, "What do you think of the song _I Love You _by 2NE1?"

He gave me an amused smirk and answered, "That song? It's all right. I like K-pop songs that have more of a dance vibe to them—they're easier to choreograph dances to. What about you?"

"I love that song." I stuck my tongue out at him. "It's one of my favorites. I bet you I could make up a better dance to that song than you could to a hip-hop one."

"You sound so confident," Sora said, eyeing me suspiciously. Then, he surprised me by holding one of his hands out to me.

"What?" I asked just as skeptically, my eyes switching back and forth between his outstretched hand and innocently-twinkling blue eyes.

"Let's make it a real-ass bet," he grinned. "Whoever makes up the best dance gets whatever they want from the loser."

"All right," I said, already sure that I would win as I grasped his hand tightly. "I warn you, though . . . I'm a pretty good dancer."

"I'll bet you are," he replied, shaking my hand up and down vigorously. "Now, first things first: you just got tagged out. You're not supposed to touch the lava monster, or let him touch you. You fail." His smile widened at the shocked look on my face.

"Well," I said with a heavy, defeated sigh, "what's the second thing?"

"My prize, when I win—I'm going to choose it now so you can prepare yourself," he said smugly, his hands slipped lightly in the front pockets of his skinny jeans.

"What?!" I exclaimed, surprised. "Well, fine. What do you want _if_ you win?"

"_When_ I win, you mean," he said, pulling his carton of cigarettes out and easily yanking one out of the box. He placed it in his mouth, tossed aside the now-empty box, and produced his lighter from another pocket. I watched intently as he lit the end of the cigarette, stupidly fascinated by the harshness of the fiery glow against the backdrop of darkness all around us. I didn't quite understand when or why Sora had become a chain smoker, but there _really _had to be something bothering him because I could swear that it was his fourth or fifth cigarette already.

"_If_," I replied stubbornly. "It wouldn't be fair to bet on it if you were already going to win. It would actually be pretty dumb and pointless."

He took a long drag on the cigarette and chuckled lowly as he pulled it out to exhale the dark smoke. "Touché, Red. Touché. Very well . . . _If_ I win, I think I'd like . . . Literally _the _best red velvet cupcake that I have ever or will ever taste."

"Sweets?" I put my hands on my hips. "Sweets are bad for you, you know."

"Bullshit," he grinned, still keeping me under his watchful eyes. "And what do you know about sweets? You look like you haven't touched sugar in a decade—you could use the cupcake more than me!"

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. I did _not _want to talk about my body. Expertly, I deflected the attention from me by drawing his thoughts back to our bet.

"So . . . I'm supposed to be picking what I want, right?" I inquired, my eyes twinkling. I tapped my chin and then said, "If I win, you have to take me to see whatever movie I want in the theater."

He smirked. "You gonna subject me to the tortur that is a rom-com?"

I wrinkled my nose. "That's the surprise, isn't it?"

He sighed. "It's a deal. If I win, cupcakes will be baked. If you win, movies will be watched. And if your dance is _really _good, then I'll even let you get popcorn."

I opened my mouth to respond, but was suddenly overtaken by a huge yawn that practically pierced the night.

"What, you sleepy?" Sora asked, looking me levelly in the eyes, since my perch on the end of the slide raised me up in the air slightly.

"Kiiiinda," I trilled, hopping off the slide and skipping over to the swingset. "Also a little cold."

I could feel Sora's eyes on me as I swung back and forth, back and forth. I wished I knew what he was thinking, and I desperately hoped it had nothing to do with my weight or looks, as irrational as that sounded.

"You wanted to know about your brother, right?" I called over my shoulder, curling my fingers around one of the supporting poles that held up the swings.

He was quiet, and I heard his feet crunching in the gravel as he came up behind me. He stopped a few feet away, close enough to where I could feel his breath hot on the back of my neck.

I turned around, struggling not to shrink away from the proximity. I reached up to push my hair out of my cerulean eyes. He was staring at me so intensely that I felt as though he were looking deep into my soul. It was only slightly unsettling.

"So . . . ?" Sora said expectantly.

Nothing but silence fell from my mouth. I couldn't do it. I just couldn't do it.

"Let's make another bet—this time, the stakes are higher," I finally said, looking up into his eyes intently.

"Two bets going on at once between the two of us?" Sora marveled, arching one of his eyebrows. "Hm, sounds sexy. What are you proposing?"

"By the time our K-pop dance bet is done, if you've managed to gain my complete and utter trust, I'll tell you anything and everything you want to know," I said with a completely serious expression on my face, trying my hardest to ignore the way my heart was racing and my voice was trembling.

"Well, what happens if I lose?" he asked, taking a step closer.

I didn't move away, surprising even myself. "You have to stop."

"Stop what?" he asked, even closer to me now, merely a foot away. His voice had gotten lower, huskier, and I was terrified, but still, I did not move away.

"Everything. All of it. The talking, the hanging out, the prying. Especially the prying."

Something flashed in his eyes. "What, you don't liiiiike me?"

I keep my gaze level and my chin up. "Exactly the opposite . . ." I whispered.

All-of-a-sudden, I felt his hand, cold upon my left cheek, his thumb stroking my cheekbone so tenderly that it made me shake. Never before had anyone looked at me so caringly, and it was almost too much to handle. My eyes filled with tears.

I felt undeserving. Worthless. Miserable.

"Then why?" His mouth was barely inches from mine.

Why hadn't I moved away yet?

"I told you . . . I'm scared . . ." I whispered, closing my eyes against the tears that threatened to spill out and down my cheeks.

Sora's eyes were studying my face, moving from my pouty lips to my big, blue eyes. His free hand moved my chin-length crimson bangs out of my eyes and tucked it behind my ear. My heart was beating so hard and fast that I was terrified it was going to soar right out of my chest.

Then, he stepped back and gave me a simple smile. He reached forward and grabbed my hand, shaking it once firmly.

"You've got yourself a deal, Red," he grinned. "But just watch . . . I'll win my bet, _and_ I'll win your bet. I don't like to lose."

I smirked. "Neither do I."

Sora just shook his head. "Wanna head back to the city now?" he asked, holding out his hand.

I looked up at him and for a moment, I saw Vanitas. I saw his rage, his anger, his sickness. But then I saw Sora. I saw his gentleness, his kindness, his friendship. When I went home, this dream would shatter and things would go back to normal, almost as if this never happened. Vanitas would make sure of it. But for some reason, staring up at Sora's innocent smile, I didn't care _what _Vanitas was going to do to me, because just this day with Sora was enough to carry me through any horrible event that Vanitas put me through.

At least . . . I hoped it would be.

I shook my head to rid myself of the memory before the nightmare threatened to take over my senses again. I hesitated for a second before I took Sora's hand. The walk home would be a long one, but with Sora, I wasn't scared.

I wasn't scared.

_The static of your arms, it is the catalyst._

_You're a chemical that burns—there is nothing like this._

_It's the purest element but it's so volatile._

_An equation heaven sent; a drug for angels._

_Strangeness and Charm._

_So feel it on me love._

_So see it on me love._

**xxx**

**Author's Note: Whew, so that was a long one. Stayed up until 6 am for that, lol. Anyway, not much to say beyond the fact that Sora and Kairi needed some relationship development. How many of you think that Sora already knows about the abuse, he's just trying to let Kairi know that he's there to help? –raising hand- That's what I thought. Man, Sora, you are not subtle. And poor guy is a chain smoker . . . Wonder why he is so stressed? Anyway, thanks to all my readers and reviewers for the last chapter, and thank you to everyone for sticking with me through this story!**


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